Loud House Souls Season 1
by RealityMaster501
Summary: The only things I own in this series are the objects, places and characters that are not in either franchise.
1. Episode 1, Part 1

Episode 1

Part 1**  
**

**If there are any grammatical errors or misspellings, please let me know in the comments**

On the edge of Royal Woods, Michigan, there exists a large two-story house that has been left abandoned for many years. It once belonged to a man name Cornelius Benjamin, a short-statured scientist who mysteriously disappeared over thirty years ago.

Cornelius wasn't as famous as certain other scientists like Einstein or Hawking, but he was very well known by the town residents for coming up with various inventions and formulas that he believed would be beneficial for them.

While most of his experiments didn't go so well he has won a couple of Nobel Prizes for the ones that did turn out to be useful. After his disappearance though no one had ever bought the old house nor was it even torn down.

But, that doesn't mean that it's completely uninhabited, for living inside its walls is something that is neither human nor any kind of known animal.

The town residents refer to this figure as, The Royal Woods Devil, a mysterious creature that had taken up residence within the old structure a few weeks ago. No one knows where it came from or what its exact purpose is, nor are they even aware of where it currently resides.

It used to be seen wandering around the streets and buildings of Royal Woods at night during the first week and a half it showed up, and it was during those times that many people have tried to capture it but to no avail.

Other individuals however, believe it to be nothing more than a hoax, claiming it to be about as real as Bigfoot. Either way, The Royal Woods Devil had become a very popular figure.

* * *

Lori was seated at a table in what appeared to be a fancy restaurant, and sitting across from her was her boyfriend Bobby. The two of them were dressed formally for the occasion along with the other guests, who all seemed to be enjoying themselves while dining under a large chandelier.

As most people would expect from a high-class eating establishment, the walls and ceilings had a beautiful and elegant design, the food though small was quite delicious as well as satisfying, the different flavored wines they serve were nice and refreshing and the small orchestra that played on the side of the dining hall was a very nice touch.

The young couple was really enjoying their evening together, sharing samples of their meals while exchanging life stories with each other. "Oh Bobby, this has been such a wonderful evening," Lori said with a dreamy sigh.

"It sure has. It wasn't easy getting reservations for this place, especially with how expensive the food is, but in the end, I managed to pull it off," he said with pride.

"Oh Bobby, you didn't have to go through all that trouble just to make me happy," she chuckled.

"Yeah, but I did anyway."

They shared a good laugh at this. "Before our evening comes to an end though, I have just one more surprise for you."

Lori watched with curiosity as her date reached into his pocket before pulling out a small box that seemed to fit into the palm of his hand, her eyes widening in awe at the size and shape of the object. Bobby then held the box out in front of himself and looked at his girlfriend.

"Lori Marie Loud?" he asked.

"Yes, Boo Boo Bear?" she answered softly.

Even though she wasn't showing it, Lori could barely contain her excitement at what he was about to ask her.

He took a deep breath before asking, "May I have the privilege of asking you to be my, poo-poo!"

"Huh?" she asked, confused at his sudden voice change.

"Poo-poo!" he said again.

Before she knew it the entire floor beneath her suddenly crumbled away, resulting in her falling into a black void below.

* * *

Lori awoke with a startled gasp. After quickly collecting herself she realized that everything she went through was all just a dream, one that ended a little too suddenly. The moment she got her focus back she looked up to see her baby sister sitting on her chest. "Ugh, Lily, I was in the middle of Bobby asking me to marry him," she said while rubbing the bridge of her nose.

The only response she got from the toddler though was a cute giggle, to which she couldn't resist smiling to a little. While she was pretty annoyed at the unexpected wakeup call, she just couldn't stay mad at her. Looking towards the clock on her nightstand, Lori saw that it was a bit after seven, a little earlier than her usual wakeup time.

Deciding that she might as well get up, Lori grabbed the adorable little alarm clock and pulled herself out of bed. "Mom and Dad will probably be up as well," she said as they left the bedroom.

And she was right because once they entered the kitchen downstairs they spotted both Lynn Sr. and Rita sitting at a table while sipping some coffee from their mugs. The latter smiled when she saw her eldest and youngest daughters entering the room. "Morning you two, we didn't expect you to be up until later Lori."

"Hey Mom and Dad, Lily got out of her crib and found her way into my bedroom."

The matriarch's look of happiness then turned into shock. "What, how did she even get out?"

"I literally have no idea."

"There must be something up with her crib. Remind me to take a look at it before we leave for our trip," he told his wife, to which she nodded.

After handing Lily over to their mother Lori then headed back upstairs and towards the linen closet that sat on one end of the hallway. Today the Loud family is going to be spending a five nights vacation at the Red Cardinal Resort in Hazeltucky. Something that they've been planning for quite a long time now.

Like many other resorts, the Red Cardinal had a variety of different relaxation methods and activities, such as a swimming pool, jacuzzi, spa, arcade, zip-lining, hiking trails, tennis court, buffet, an indoor playground, an open mike stage, and luxurious suites.

Upon entering the closet, Lori grabbed a towel and robe before making her way into the bathroom to wash up. A quick shower later and Lori was now dressed in her bathrobe while applying some zit cream like she did every morning and every night. While doing this she decided to look up her cellphone and see if there was any interesting news.

At first, it was just some boring stuff like the Mayor getting a new hat or City Hall opening a new roadway, but then she came across a piece of article that caught her attention. It was a report about a notorious serial killer who escaped from prison in Hazeltucky recently.

This made Lori feel a little worried since they were going to be staying in that town later on, but then she realized that Hazeltucky was a big place, so it was very unlikely that they would run into him. Plus he would probably try to lay low so as to not get caught.

"Hey Lori, you gonna be much longer?"

"Just a minute Lynn!" she said in mild annoyance.

Lori was actually kind of glad that Lily woke her up a little earlier because that way she wouldn't have to wait in line with her other sisters. After applying the last touch of zit cream she pocketed her phone and exited the restroom. "It's all yours," she said to Lynn who rushed inside.

Walking past the rest of her siblings, Lori reentered her and Leni's bedroom to get dressed.

* * *

It was now eight-thirty as everyone got comfortable inside of Veronica. "So, is everybody all set?" the father asked his daughters from the driver seat.

"Yeah!" they cheered, including his wife.

"Alrighty then, let's get going," he said before pulling out of the driveway.

As they drove towards their destination the siblings began to talk about all of the fun things they plan to do at the resort. "O,m,gosh, I can't wait until we get to the resort. The first thing I'm going to do is hit the spa," said Leni.

"Me too, I can literally see myself relaxing in a nice mud bath while getting a mani-pedi," Lori added.

"Meh, I'm only interested in the mud baths," Lana said nonchalantly.

"Well I plan on doing all of the things at the spa except the mud baths," said Lola.

"Aw, why not, mud baths are great for your complexion?" asked Leni.

"True, but when you share a room with someone who practically rolls around in it, it pretty much makes you sick of seeing it, at least for a while anyway."

Leni didn't quite get what she heard but decided to just roll with it.

"Well I don't know about you dudettes, but Luan, Lucy and I are going to be using the open mike section," said Luna.

"Yeah, people are going to love our performances, right Lucy?" Luan asked while nudging her gothic sister.

"Right," she answered in a monotonous tone.

"Yeah, while you guys do that I'm gonna be kicking some butt on the tennis court. Those chumps won't know what hit him," said Lynn Jr.

"Well I for one plan on visiting the arcade," said Lisa.

Lynn, who was sitting right next to her, looked at her in confusion. "Since when were you into video games?" she asked.

Lisa shook her head and gestured for Lynn to lean towards her a little. "I actually plan on borrowing a few components from their consoles for any inventions I plan to make in the future," she whispered.

"Ooh, sneaky," she replied with a sinister grin.

"What are you two whispering about?" Lori asked suspiciously.

"Nothing!" they both responded.

At this point, the parents shushed their kids so that they could hear the radio. "There still have been no signs of the serial killer since he had escaped from prison. Police have been combing the streets of Hazeltucky for hours in search of this criminal but with no luck so far," a male news reporter said.

"I thought they would have caught him by now," Rita commented.

"In other news, someone, who wishes to be unnamed, claims to have seen the legendary Royal Woods Devil around the old home of Cornelius Benjamin. This has been proven false after an investigative team entered the house but found no signs of the creature."

"What do you think happened to it anyway?" Lynn Jr. asked.

"Beats me, no one has seen The Royal Woods Devil for more than a week now," replied Luna.

"It's probably because it got tired of people always trying to trap it," Lana assumed.

"Oh, please, The Royal Woods Devil is nothing more than an urban legend that some low brain individuals came up with," Lisa explained.

And so they continued to talk during the ride, whether it was about the resort, the killer or The Devil.

* * *

Unfortunately, their little trip came to a sudden stop the moment Veronica started to break down. "Oh no, not now," said Lynn Jr.

"Pull over Dad, I'll take a look," said Lana.

Doing what his daughter instructed, the father pulled the vehicle to the side of the road. The little grease monkey then got out and walked to the front side of the van. "Okay, let's see what we got here."

Lana opened the hood to examine the inside of the family vehicle before finding the culprit. "No good everyone, the timing belt broke."

"Do you think you can fix it?" Rita asked,

"I'm afraid not, we don't have anything that'll make a good substitute and there isn't a repair shop anywhere near us, so we're pretty much stuck."

The others did not like what they just heard. Lynn Sr. gave a heavy sigh and said, "It looks like we'll have to call a tow truck then."

"But we'll still make it to the resort, right?" Lori asked with a bit of uncertainty.

"That's very unlikely I'm afraid. As Lana has stated earlier there isn't a shop anywhere close to our proximity, and by the time the mechanic finishes replacing the timing belt we would have already missed out on our check-in time," Lisa explained.

As much as they wanted to disagree with her, their genius of a sister had a point. "But, what about our spa treatments?" Leni asked.

"And the open mike?" Lucy asked.

"And the tennis court?" Lynn asked.

"Poo-poo," Lily asked sadly.

"I'm sorry kids, but it looks like we'll have to wait another time," answered their mother.

"But that's so long," Lola whined.

Lynn Sr. and Rita hated to see their daughters feel so dejected. This was something that they had been looking forward to for so long, but sadly, there was nothing else they could do about it.

After talking on his phone for a few minutes Lynn hung up and turned towards the others. "I just called the car shop, they said a tow truck should be arriving in an hour or so."

"In the meantime, why don't we listen to the radio some more?" Rita suggested before turning on the device.

"Breaking news, weather forecasts say that a severe storm is scheduled to arrive in Royal Woods within an hour. Residents are advised to stay within their homes or business establishments until the storm settles," a female news reporter said.

The Louds' feelings of depression are then turned into fear upon hearing this. They had to find shelter as soon as possible as the van would not be enough to protect them. "I can see a house over there," said Lana.

Her family looked to see that she was correct. Standing just on the other side of the road was a familiar looking structure. "Whoa, isn't that the house where that Cornelius dude used to live?" Luna asked.

"It would appear very much so," Lisa answered the rockstar.

"Let's hope that it'll keep us well protected from the storm," said Lynn Sr.

They then grabbed their stuff from the back of Veronica before making their way across the road and up to the front door. Upon entering what they assumed to be the foyer, the Louds could see just how old the place was.

Besides a bunch of cobwebs hanging around, the foyer's walls were covered in old stains and mildew, the curtains on the windows that were situated on both sides of the front door had holes in them, the small chandelier that hung on the ceiling was mostly rusted and looked ready to fall off any time and some twin staircases that stood on the other side of the entrance looked rotten in some areas. "This place looks like a real dump," said Lynn.

"It looks like this used to be such a nice place, it's a shame they let it end up like this," her father said.

While most of them were talking about the house's interior, Lily spotted something in the air vent up on the wall over her mother's shoulder. She looked at it curiously wondering exactly what it was, and it seemed to be looking at her as well through the grill. After several seconds of staring Lily tried to reach out towards it, thinking that it was a small animal to play with.

This did not go unnoticed by the others. "You see something, Lily?" Lori asked.

They looked up towards the air vent only to see that the figure was gone. "I don't see anything," said Lynn Jr.

"Maybe it was The Royal Woods Devil she saw in there," suggested Lana.

"Again, The Royal Woods Devil is just an urban legend. What our youngest sibling most likely saw was some type of small animal. Considering that this place has been abandoned for such a long time then it would make sense for certain species like rats to make themselves at home here," Lisa pointed out.

"Ew, so there are rats here too?" Leni asked fearfully.

Lola didn't like what she heard either. "That's it, I am not going to spend my time inside an old and dusty place full of disgusting rodents," she protested before turning towards the front door, "Let's find someplace else to take shelter in, one that's a lot better looking than this."

Just when she took a few steps outside however, a loud thunder clap forced her to run back inside with fear. "On second thought, maybe staying here wouldn't be so bad," she said while clinging on to her mother's leg.

* * *

Almost an hour had passed since the storm had finally arrived, and despite its old age, the house had just enough strength to withstand it as it raged outside. Although the strong wind hitting against the house's exterior as well as the loud thunder was scaring some of the younger siblings, especially Lily.

"It's okay sweetie, the storm won't hurt you," Rita soothed her baby.

The Louds were gathered into the living room, which seemed to be in no better condition than the foyer. The leather couch and armchair were worn out with a few buttons hanging off, the coffee table that stood between them had rickety legs and wooden television had grime covering the screen.

It was pretty dark inside the old house thanks to the storm outside, but luckily they remembered to bring their emergency lantern in with the rest of their luggage. It didn't provide a whole lot of light for them but it was better than just sitting around in the darkness, much to Lucy's disappointment.

"Does anyone know when this storm is gonna clear up?" Lynn Jr. asked.

"I texted Bobby half an hour ago and asked him to check the weather forecast, he said it won't clear up for several hours," Lori answer, much to everyone's annoyance.

"First we had to miss out on what would've been a great time at the resort, and now we have to spend hours inside a dusty old house," the young jock complained.

"Yeah, this storm needs to stop, _raining_ on our parade, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, get it?" Luan joked.

Everyone except their father groaned at this. The latter then stood up and said, "Well since the storm isn't going to clear up anytime soon, then why don't we do some exploring awhile. There might be some interesting things here."

"Sounds better than sitting here feeling bored," said Luna.

The rest nonchalantly agreed with her before Lynn Sr. took hold of the lantern. The first room they checked out was the dining room, which contained a round table that was covered by an old and dirty tablecloth along with a china cabinet with grime covering its glass door. Wanting to take a look at some of the china, Rita handed Lily to her husband before opening the cabinet doors, only to find that the images on the plates and bowls were mostly faded.

The next room they visited was the kitchen. It pretty much had the same kind of furniture and appliances that most other kitchens do or at least the kind that was used during the owner's time. The Louds were a little grossed out at the smell coming from the dirty dishes that were stacked together in the sink.

After that, they went to check out the guest room. This one contained a large bed with a beautifully designed quilt as well as a couple of ruffle pillows, a full-size mirror with a swan etched into the frame on each side, an oak dresser with gold-colored handles and a flower-shaped ceiling lamp. If it wasn't for the fact that most of its furniture was rotten and covered in mold, then this would seem like a comfortable room to stay in.

The only other rooms on the first floor were the bathroom and storage room, both of which were also covered in filth. So they decided to check out the rooms on the upper level. Of course, they also tried to be careful when going up the twin staircases before entering the second-floor hallway.

The first room in the hallway was a small library. Lisa felt overjoyed at seeing all the different books that lined the shelves, but quickly became disappointed when she learned that the pages in each one were too brittle for her to turn.

The room after that also had some books that were left lying around on a long table, along with several glass containers full of old chemicals. The Louds could easily tell that this was the former owner's private laboratory.

The last room in the hallway was the master bedroom. It wasn't as bad looking as the guest room but it still wasn't in very good condition. The furniture in this room consisted of a large bed, a nightstand, a wardrobe, and a ceiling fan.

Just as the Louds started to leave the room Lori tripped on something and smacked into the side of the wardrobe. The others became concerned and rushed over to help her up. "My goodness, are you okay dear?" asked Rita who was holding Lily again.

"I'm fine, I just tripped on a loose floorboard," she responded before getting back to her feet.

"Hey uh, guys, you might want to take a look at this," Luna said.

They turned towards the wardrobe and saw that it had been moved to the side an inch when Lori fell onto it, but what their sister was pointing to was something that was being hidden behind the wardrobe. The Louds pushed the piece of furniture to the side further to reveal a large hole in the wall, one that was just big enough for an adult to crouch down and enter through it. Lynn held the lantern towards it to see that it led into a crawlspace.

"What do you think is in there?" Luan asked.

"Hold on, I'll take a look," Rita said before taking hold of the lantern.

"Be careful honey," said her husband.

Once she was in the crawlspace she saw that it stretched ahead on the right side. The light from her lantern wasn't enough to let her see what awaited her so she crouch walked towards the end. When she reached it she was surprised at what she had just discovered. "There's a bed in here!" she called back to the others.

They were pretty confused at this. "Are you serious Mom!?" Lynn Jr. called back.

"Yes, I'm serious!" she responded.

In front of her was an old mattress with only a blanket and pillow on top. Sitting on the floor next to the mattress was a bunch of random items, consisting of a book, a toy robot with a windup key, a magnifying glass, and a windup alarm clock.

Rita picked up the toy robot to examine it and saw that both it and the other items were newer looking than everything else in the house. "Could someone actually be living here?" she asked softly.

While she was pondering this, the rest of her family was wondering why there was a bed in the crawlspace. Their moment of confusion was interrupted by Luna though who asked, "Does anyone know where Leni is?"

* * *

Meanwhile somewhere far from their location, after hijacking an old pickup truck, the escaped serial killer was making his way out of Hazeltucky to Royal Woods. He had a large muscular build, a buzz style Mowhawk, a few piercings and a tattoo of a snake on his right arm.

He was still wearing the same orange-colored jumpsuit from prison but the sleeves had been torn off at the shoulders, and sitting on the seat next to him was a two-foot-long machete and shotgun, two weapons that he stole from an outdoors shop recently.

The killer felt very lucky to have escaped before finally being given the death sentence, but he also knew that he wasn't out of the woods just yet. The truck he stole didn't have enough fuel to get him past Royal Woods and it was only a matter of time before the authorities are able to trace the vehicle. So his plan was that once he reached his destination he'll ditch the truck and lay low until he was able to steal another vehicle.

As he was nearing the town border of Hazeltucky a weather report appeared on the radio he was listening to, the same one that warned others about the upcoming storm. This didn't bother him though since the storm would make a good cover for him, or so he thought.

* * *

While her family was busy checking out the rooms from upstairs Leni separated from the rest of them to go and use the bathroom. At first, she didn't want to use it considering how filthy it was, but the smoothie she drank during the ride was having other ideas.

Unfortunately, she did not think to bring a source of light with her, resulting in her constantly bumping into walls and tripping over furniture. Eventually, after what felt like hours she finally found what she was looking for, and just in time too as the smoothie was getting very impatient.

During the time she was using it though the serial killer came in through the front door dripping wet. It turned out that the storm was getting too rough for him to stay out in, forcing him to leave the truck and take shelter inside the old house. He also remembered to take his two weapons with him before running through the heavy rain.

He took in his surroundings and thought that the place would not only make a good shelter, but also a good temporary hideout. The killer then decided to look around and see if there were any items he could sell on the black market one day. While he was looking at some of the objects in the dining room however he suddenly heard the sound of a door being opened.

Being stealthy, the killer peaked around a corner to see Leni entering the foyer, a cheerful yet naïve smile on her face. At first, he was a little confused as to what a pretty young girl was doing in a place like that, but then he thought, 'Who cares, I just found myself a new victim."

With the machete and shotgun strapped to his back, the killer came out of his hiding spot and began to slowly and quietly follow Leni as she made her way back up the staircases. By the time she entered the hallway however a bolt of lightning illuminated the inside of the house some, revealing to her a large shadow that stretched across the floor in front of her. "Huh, I must be putting on a little weight," she said.

The killer looked at her in confusion upon hearing this, wondering just how dumb she was. He quickly pushed these thoughts to the side though before grabbing Leni and pinning her to the wall. Leni tried to scream for help but her cries only came out as muffles as the killer kept his hand over her mouth.

Leni then watched in terror as the killer removed the machete from its holster and raised it above his head, but just when he was about to bring it down on her something lunged at him before digging its claws into his upper back and shoulders, forcing him to let go of Leni.

Music: The Hunter Phase 2 by Bloodborne

The rest of the Louds heard the commotion and rushed into the hallway to see what was going on, only to stop in their tracks the moment they saw what was occurring in front of them. Seeing her family appear in the hall Leni quickly got back up and ran over to them. They all then watched as the killer stumbled around while trying to pull whatever it was that was clawing at his head and shoulders.

He eventually managed to do so and threw it at one of the walls ahead of him, where it created a small dent before falling to the floor in pain. The killer looked towards it to try and see what it was that just attacked him with the Louds doing the same thing, but it was too far for their lantern's light to reach.

Speaking of the Louds, he quickly became aware of their presence and turned towards them, their lantern revealing his scratched up face to them. Recognizing who he was, the family tried to make a run for it into one of the rooms while the killer pulled out his shotgun and aimed it right at them.

Before he could pull the trigger though the figure had already gotten back to its feet and lunged at him again, forcing him to move the barrel downward before blowing a hole in the floor. This allowed the Loud family to take cover in the nearest room where they locked themselves in.

The figure continued to claw at him while the killer slammed into the walls repeatedly in order to try and throw it off again. After almost a minute of pain and struggling the figure bit down onto the killer's left shoulder, causing him to scream in pain.

This also caused him to stumble back towards the staircases before breaking through the railing and onto the foyer floor. The figure had lost its grip on him the moment he broke through the railing, thus landing several feet away from where the killer was before falling unconscious.

To be continued…


	2. Episode 1, Part 2

Episode 1

Part 2

The serial killer moaned in pain from the bite and claw marks as he struggled to push himself back up, his head spinning from the fall. Once he was back to his feet he looked over to where the figure had landed.

He still couldn't make out its appearance well through the darkness, but from what he could make out was that it seemed to be unmoving. The killer didn't know what it was or why it attacked him earlier, but he didn't care. Whether this thing was dead or just unconscious, he was going to tear it apart for what it did to him.

Before the killer could take a step towards it though, he heard a familiar clicking sound coming from above. He looked up to see the Loud family standing on top of the staircases with their mother aiming the shotgun right at him.

The killer's anger was then replaced with fear when he saw the weapon being pointed at him, and it was at this point that he realized that he must have dropped it when that thing lunged at him the second time.

Due to no longer having any weapons on him as well as the irritating pain from his wounds, the killer decided he had no choice but to get out of there. Rita followed him with the barrel as she watched him walk towards the front door and back out into the storm, never to be seen again.

The matriarch lowered the gun while giving a sigh of relief, feeling glad that the serial killer was gone now. The rest of her family felt the same way as many of them were afraid of what he would've done to them if he hadn't dropped the weapon earlier. "Man, I can't believe he didn't realize it wasn't even loaded," said Lynn Jr.

They didn't fully relax yet though as they turned their attentions towards the unconscious figure. Carefully descending the stairs, the Louds quietly approached it in hopes that it wouldn't get up and attack them. By the time they were close enough Lynn Sr. held the lantern out so that they could see what it was, and what they saw baffled them.

Even though it was lying on its side with its back facing them, they could still tell what it was. "Th-That's it, that's The Royal Woods Devil," said Lana.

"Huh, I guess it wasn't a myth after all," said Luna.

"But, that's impossible. There had never been any records of other specimens like that one," Lisa claimed.

Some of them were amazed at seeing the legendary creature itself, while the rest were confused that it actually exists. The father then cautiously reached over and rolled it onto its back in order for them to get a better look at it.

It appeared to be humanoid with grayish blue skin, claws on its hands and feet, a couple of small horns located above its temples, both of which curved upright slightly, a pair of bat like wings and an arrow-tipped tail. The only kind of clothing it seemed to be wearing was an old pair of pants, which Leni did not like. It also appeared to be a little thin looking, almost as if it hadn't eaten much lately.

What surprised them however was how old The Royal Woods Devil looked, but before any of them could question its appearance the creature began to stir. The Louds watched with bated breaths as it slowly sat up while grunting in pain, its voice matching its current age. Once it was in a seated position it turned to see them staring right at it, allowing them to see its reptilian eyes.

Instead of attacking them like they thought it would, it yelped in fright before running towards the stairs and up into the hallway again. The Louds were perplexed at this as they did not expect this kind of behavior. "Is it just me, or did The Royal Woods Devil look and sound like a little kid?" asked Lynn Jr.

"Yeah, not only that, it also seemed to be afraid of us," answered Luan.

"But why is that?" Lori asked, "It literally had no problem attacking that other guy so why would it hesitate on us?"

"Actually that's another question, why did it attack him anyways; did he anger it or something?" Luna asked.

They all looked at Leni for answers. "What?"

"Leni, what exactly happened in that hallway?" Rita asked her daughter.

"Well…"

She then went on to explain everything that had occurred before her family showed up. All of them were horrified at the fact that Leni was almost killed by the madman, but were very thankful that it didn't happen. Still, they reminded her not to go wandering off on her own without informing them about it first.

After Leni finished her story the others had puzzled looks on their faces. "That still doesn't explain why it attacked him though," said Lori.

"It probably just wanted to eat him. I mean it did look like it was starving, didn't it?" Lynn Jr. asked.

"I do not believe that is the case. If it was then it would have assaulted our second eldest sibling during the time she was alone," said Lisa, "I think it is most likely that the, how I really hate to say it, Royal Woods Devil was actually trying to protect her."

Much like in the van the siblings were going to deny her claim at first but considering of what they had witnessed just a minute ago they realized that the little Einstein was on to something. "So, it attacked that scary looking man to save me?" Leni asked.

"That's what my theory is," Lisa answered.

"Okay, I get all that but why was it afraid of us?" Lynn asked.

Everyone except Lana shrugged at this. "Don't you guys remember what I said during the ride, about why it stopped appearing in Royal Woods?" Lana asked.

They gave it some thought before nodding their heads at her, indicating that they remembered.

"Well that's probably the same reason why it acted so afraid of us. It must have thought that we were going to trap it."

Hearing this made some of the Louds feel rather sympathetic towards it. "I guess there was more to those articles about it being more intelligent than we first thought," said Lynn Sr.

"Now I'm more convinced that it _is_ a scared child. The poor thing," said his wife.

"It also looked like it was hurt from that fall earlier," said Luna.

Music: Dark Descent by Valley

With this in mind the Louds ascended the stairs and back onto the second floor. They then searched each of the rooms in the hallway for the creature before eventually coming to the master bedroom. There they saw that the wardrobe was moved back to the same spot that it was when they first entered it.

Moving it to the side again, Lori took out her cellphone and turned on the screen to use it as a makeshift flashlight. When they saw how much light it was producing, Lynn Jr. asked, "Why didn't you just use that when we were checking out the rooms a while ago?"

"Because I didn't want to use up too much of my phone's battery," she replied.

Lori entered halfway into the hole and pointed her cellphone screen towards the end of the crawlspace, where she could see the creature sitting on its rear with its back against the wall. "It's in here alright," she said to the others behind her.

She was about to go further into the hole until Rita place a hand on her shoulder and said, "Let me handle this."

Though a little reluctant at first, Lori did what she was told and backed out of the hole. Rita activated the screen on _her_ phone and entered the crawlspace. The creature tried to scoot further back as it watched her move a few feet up to it before stopping. "Hey now, it's ok, we're not going to hurt you," she said in a calming tone.

It didn't seem to believe her though as it tried to keep its distance from her. It almost broke the woman's heart to see how scared it was, for she knew fully well that despite its inhuman appearance it was still a child. "That man must have hurt you pretty badly hasn't he?" she asked, "Is that why you're in pain right now?"

It reluctantly nodded. It wasn't sure why but something about her tone made it feel just a bit at ease.

"One of my daughters told me that you attacked him in order to protect my other daughter. Is that true?"

It nodded again.

"Well, I'm very grateful for what you did, but a child your age shouldn't go putting itself in danger like that even if it was meant to protect someone."

The Devil was surprised at this. Not at being lectured for trying to save someone, but at the fact that she seemed to know its current age. Ever since it first appeared in Royal Woods no one had been aware that it was just a kid.

"Still, I'm very thankful for saving her, and I'm sure she's thankful as well."

This made it smile a bit, feeling somewhat glad that someone appreciated its efforts. It still felt wary of her though.

"Why don't I introduce myself?" she asked, "My name is Rita Loud, what's your name?"

"We already know what its name is Mom, it's The Royal Woods Devil," Leni called from outside the crawlspace.

"That's just what the town residents call it Leni, she's asking for its real name," said Lori.

"Oh, right."

Rita turned her attention back to the creature. "Do you have a name?" she asked before receiving another nod, "Could you tell us what it is?"

It stayed quiet for several seconds, unsure if it should make any response to her.

"Can you tell us what your name is?" she asked again.

After several more seconds of silence it finally answered her. "L-Li-Lincoln."

Rita smiled at this, knowing that they were getting somewhere for real. "It's very nice to meet you Lincoln. Do you live here by yourself?"

"Y-yes," he answered.

"Do you have any friends or family around?"

"No."

The others remained quiet as they listened in from the other side of the hole, hoping that their mother's attempt at easing its fear of them would work.

"You don't have to be afraid of us Lincoln, we promise that no harm will come to you," she said to him.

Everything became silent after that as no one dared to utter a word. Then, after what felt like hours Lincoln began to slowly approach her.

"That's it now, all we want to do is help you."

By the time he was close to her she gently pulled him into a hug before petting his head in a soothing manner. Lincoln then began to shed some tears that he didn't realize he was holding in.

"Shhhhhh, everything is going to be alright."

Lincoln remained in her arms while letting the soothing sensation wash over him.

* * *

Everyone had gathered in the living room again with Luna scooping up some ice cubes from their cooler into a bag. She then handed the ice pack to her mother who said "Thank you, dear," and pressed it onto Lincoln's back. The boy shivered a little at the cold sensation.

After he and Rita had emerged from the crawlspace they all went back downstairs to try and treat his wounds, which were mostly some big bruises on several parts of his body, including his right wing. Lincoln was still pretty shy towards the Loud family so he didn't respond much to them. After some time however, he began to warm up to them and eventually got to know some of them.

"So, Lincoln is it?" Lori asked before receiving a reply, "Right, I hope you don't mind me asking this but, where are your parents?"

He turned his gaze to the floor. "I don't have any, I've pretty much been on my own for a while now," he answered.

"So you're an orphan, that's so sad?" said Leni.

"I-It's okay, I've kinda gotten used to it by now."

"Still, some of us know what it's like to be lonely at times," said Lucy.

Not surprisingly, her sudden appearance startled him which then caused him to wince in pain.

"Sorry about that, I tend to scare people whenever I inform them of my presence, even when I don't mean to," she explained.

"It's alright sweetie, I'm sure he knows you didn't mean it," said Rita who eventually managed to ease his pain.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you for a while now," said Lynn Jr., "What exactly are you?"

"I'm a changeling."

The Louds were a little confused at this. "With all due respect Lincoln, you don't seem to resemble the mythological creatures from European folklore," Lisa claimed.

"That's because I'm from a different race of changelings," he stated.

"Oh really, because if I recall correctly there is only one type of changeling on earth?" she challenged.

Lincoln rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, I don't know if you'll believe this, but I'm actually from another world."

Everyone became silent after this. Lincoln grew nervous as he wondered if they thought what he said was ridiculous. To his surprise however, a few of them looked at him with excited expressions. "So you're an alien?" Luna asked.

"Um, yes?" he answered with a nervous grin.

"Wait, I thought aliens were supposed to be all green looking with antennae," said Leni.

"Not all aliens have to look that way dear," her mother corrected her.

"Oh, got it."

"So why do you call yourselves changelings?" Luan asked, "Is there a meaning to it or is it just a name?"

Instead of receiving a straight answer the Louds watched in both shock and amazement as Lincoln instantly changed his appearance into that of a human boy. "We call ourselves changelings due to our ability to take on human appearances. We use this to blend in whenever we go out in public," he explained after changing back to his true form.

"Th-This is remarkable. Not only have we made personal contact with an alien life form, but we've also seen some of its capabilities," said Lisa.

"Says the girl who thought The Royal Woods Devil was only an urban legend," Lynn Jr. teased.

Lisa nonchalantly shrugged at this. "I'm only human."

"Hold on, if you could make yourself look like a human than why are you even hiding in the first place?" Lori asked.

"Because one, I like to stretch my wings every now and then, and two, I don't have any other clothes to wear if I decided to go out in my human form."

They all nodded their heads in understanding. "So how did you get here then?" Lynn Jr. asked, "Is there a space ship or a portal nearby?"

"Kind of," he said, "You know about the guy who used to live here, the one named Cornelius?"

"Yeah?" they all said.

"Well, from what he had told me Cornelius had somehow discovered a gateway into the world I'm from. It's located in an underground cave within a small forest just outside of Royal Woods. In the cave is a large pool of water with nothing swimming inside of it, and right above the water is a giant hole in the cave ceiling, one that leads up to the surface.

Whenever a lunar eclipse is formed its light would shine down through the giant hole and onto the water, which then causes it to swirl around before opening up into a giant gaping hole with nothing but complete darkness at the bottom."

"I take it this giant gaping hole is the gateway to your world?" Lori asked.

He nodded at her. "I don't know why it's there in the first place, but when Cornelius stumbled upon it the portal was already open at the time and, well I guess he accidentally fell right in."

"Huh, I guess we now know why he disappeared all of a sudden," said Rita.

"Cornelius wasn't able to find his way back to this world, so he eventually started to live a new life in the other one."

"You mentioned at the beginning of your story that he told you of how he got there," Lisa pointed out, "Were you by any chance friends with him?"

"More than that, Cornelius was my godfather."

The whole family was surprised at this. While Cornelius was a well-known scientist in Royal Woods he never once considered having a family let alone being a part of one. So it was pretty unexpected for him to have a godchild, whether it was human or not.

"Cornelius taught me a lot of things about this world while I was under his care, so I was amazed at seeing these things for real," he smiled in remembrance.

"He sounds like a great person," said Rita.

"He sure was."

"So what brings you to our world?" Lola asked.

Lincoln felt a little uncomfortable at this. "Let's just say that something occurred in my homeworld, something very bad."

The others looked at him in concern but decided not to question him about it. "So what exactly have you been surviving on lately?" asked Lynn Sr., "Because it looks like you hadn't eaten all that much."

"You're not wrong about that sir. I used to search around town for a decent meal or two, but because so many people kept trying to capture me I've become too afraid to leave my former godfather's home. So I've been surviving on rats lately."

Most of them felt disgusted at this.

"I don't eat them raw though. I cook them on an old grill in the backyard. They don't taste very good though and it's pretty hard to catch them."

Hearing all of this made the Loud family feel horrible for him. It was bad enough for a child to live on its own, but for a child to live in isolation in an old and filthy place with only rodents to survive on was unacceptable. Lincoln suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around him. "You poor thing, no one should ever have to live like this, especially for someone your age," said Rita who was trying to console him.

The boy was a little taken aback at this but the embrace felt too comforting for him to break away from it. After almost an hour had passed in their conversation they heard someone knocking on the front door. Lincoln quickly hid while Lynn Sr. went to answer it. "Can I help you?" he asked after opening the door.

"You called for a tow truck?" said the mechanic.

It was only now that he realized that the storm had cleared up a while ago. "Oh, yes, sorry we weren't there to greet you. We had to take shelter from the storm."

"That's fine. A van should be here in half an hour for you and your family."

While the patriarch went out to speak with the mechanic, the rest of the family started to collect their luggage. "I guess this is goodbye then, I hope you all will have a safe trip home," the boy said to them.

"Thank you Lincoln, it was nice to get to know you," replied Rita, "If you want, we can come and visit you whenever we get the chance?"

"Sounds good to me."

After the van had arrived and Veronica was hooked up the Loud Family said their farewell to Lincoln and drove away, leaving him alone in his former godfather's home again. He felt kind of sad that they had to leave since they were the first people he became friends with after arriving in this world.

* * *

A few days passed and just like they promised both of the parents and their daughters came to visit him. They helped the young changeling clean up the place a little so that there wasn't so much dust and filth lying around. When it was time to sit down and eat Lynn Sr. revealed that he brought his famous homemade lasagna as well as a few of his other dishes over for the visit, which Lincoln instantly fell in love with. The father even made an extra amount of each so that Lincoln wouldn't have to survive on rats for a while.

During their second visit, Leni brought over some clothes for him that she made herself. The boy was very grateful to her since he now had something other to wear than those old pants of his. Plus, he could finally go out into town during the day in his human form. Of course, he also had to be in his true form to fly there since he didn't have any other mode of transport, and that once he arrived he would have to hide somewhere before changing his appearance.

The third visit was where Rita brought over some comics for him to read, assuming that a boy his age would enjoy them, which he did. The one he was most entertained with however was none other than the card wielding superhero Ace Savvy.

They had been visiting him for almost five weeks now, and with each visit Lincoln got to know more about the Loud family while they got to know more about him, although they didn't ask him much about what his life was like back in his home world as it seemed like a sensitive matter.

* * *

On the fifth day after their last visit, the young changeling was currently seated in the living room while reading some more of the Ace Savvy comics that Rita had given him. His reading was interrupted though by some knocking on the front door. He went over to one of the windows in the foyer before moving the curtain slightly to see who it was, his face smiling upon seeing the Loud family on his front porch.

He opened the front and said, "Hey everyone, come on in."

"Hello Lincoln, how have you been lately?" Rita asked as she and the others stepped inside.

"Pretty good, things have become a little easier for me thanks to you guys."

"Well, we're glad to hear that," Lynn Sr. said.

They all sat down in the living room to talk casually for a while. Some of the sisters told Lincoln about the things that they went through lately while he told them about the things that he went through while walking around town the other day. After several minutes of friendly conversation, the Louds became serious before looking at Lincoln. "There's something we've been wanting to ask you for a while now," Lori said.

He looked at them with a raised brow. "What would that be?"

Rita gave him a warm smile and asked, "How would you like to become a part of our family?"

Lincoln's eyes widened upon hearing this. "Y-you mean?"

They nodded their head at him, already knowing what he was going to say.

"Wow I-I don't know what to say. I love to but, are you sure about having me as a part of your family since I'm not actually human?"

"What kind of question is that, of course we do?" asked Lola.

"Ever since we first met you a lot of us have taken quite a liking to you, so we thought that having you as a brother would be a great _change_ling in our lives, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, get it?" said Luan.

"And I don't know if you know this already, but a lot of us think that your real form looks really cool," said Luna.

The boy felt a little touched by this. "Heh, thanks," he responded, "But wouldn't having me as your son and brother put a serious damper on your budget since you already have ten daughters and all?"

"You don't need to worry about that. Some of our daughters receive large amounts of money for the things that they partake in," said Lynn Sr.

"I get money from my pageant winnings," said Lola.

"I sold several patents to the government for my inventions," said Lisa.

"I get paid for performing at birthday parties," said Luan.

"We then take some of that money in order to pay for the essentials," Rita finished.

"Huh, I never knew that. But don't I also need a medical record and a few other things, because Lisa explained to me during one of your visits that I'm not an official citizen of Royal Woods."

"True, I did say that. But I might have a solution for it," said Lisa.

Lincoln turned his attention to her saying that he was willing to hear it.

"Remember during one of our visits I also explained that I have some connections with the government?"

"Yes, I remember that."

The little prodigy explained that she could contact them and see if they could create some records for him. Of course, she would also need to inform them of his identity so that they would know who to create the records for. Lincoln wasn't so sure about this but Lisa assured him that they should be trustworthy enough to help with this dilemma. In the end, he agreed to go along with this idea though a little reluctantly.

After snapping a picture of him for photographic evidence Lisa went into the other room before contacting the government. An hour and thirty minutes later a black van pulled up to the front of the house, where a couple of men in suits exited the vehicle before approaching the front door.

Seeing them from the living room window, Lisa went to open the door to greet them. "Good to see you again Miss Lisa Loud," one of the men said.

"Welcome gentlemen, right this way please."

She led them over to the living room where the others were. The two men were astonished at seeing Lincoln in person. "Wow, so that is the Royal Woods Devil huh?"

Lincoln felt a little uncomfortable at the two strangers looking at him but he did his best not to show it.

"His name is Lincoln, an orphan who hails from another world. He's been living in hard times after coming here and my family wishes to adopt him," Lisa explained to them.

After Lisa had told them about Lincoln's existence as well as their request, the government sent two of their agents over to discuss the matter with them in person. After the men in black talked with the Loud family as well as their superiors over their phones, they decided to grant their wish on one condition. While the adoption procedure was being developed Lincoln would be staying at a research facility just outside of Royal Woods so that they could study him and learn as much as they can about him. Once they had enough information they would keep their end of the deal and create the essentials that he would need to become a citizen.

They would also make it that The Royal Woods Devil was labeled an endangered species and that the town was its natural habitat. This way Lincoln could fly around Royal Woods again without having to worry about someone trying to trap him.

While a few of them were a little reluctant at first, mostly Lincoln, they accepted the deal.

* * *

Five months had passed since Lincoln was taken to the research facility, and now the wait was finally over. The parents stood in the front yard of their home as a black van pulled up into their driveway. They were overjoyed when they saw Lincoln step out of the back door of the vehicle with the same two men in suits. Seeing his new mother and father, Lincoln ran up to them in excitement, with the latter embracing him in a hug.

"A deal's a deal. We got everything we need to know about him and kept our end of the bargain, so we're good to go," one of the men said.

"Thank you sirs for everything," said Rita.

"No problem."

After the two men left, Lincoln entered through the front door of his new home, and when he did he suddenly heard, "SURPRISE!"

The boy was a little startled by this but quickly perked up at what he was seeing. "A party, for me?" he asked in joy.

"You bet, we thought it would be nice to throw you a party to celebrate your adoption into our family," Lynn Sr. explained.

"This, this is awesome, thank you, sir, I mean, Dad."

"No problemo, son," he said before ruffling his hair.

It was then that Lincoln remembered something. "Were you guys able to bring it over?" he asked.

The patriarch nodded before leading him to the basement. Before he was taken to the research facility Lincoln secretly informed them about an important object he kept in the cellar of the old house and asked if they could bring it to their place.

Once they reached the basement Lincoln spotted exactly what he wanted to see, which was a large wooden chest. "I don't get why this thing is so important to you. Even though it's locked it doesn't feel like there's anything inside," said Lynn Jr.

"Trust me, there's more to it than what you all think," replied Lincoln, "But I think I'll show you what it is another time."

They were a little confused at this but decided to just go along with it, for now at least. "Let's stop wasting time already, there's a party upstairs waiting for you," said Lola.

With that said, everyone made their way back upstairs. As the party went on Lincoln was showered by a lot of love from his new sisters who each gave him a gift. While he did miss his godfather's home a little he admitted that their place was a lot better.

"What do you think about our gifts Lincoln?" Lori asked.

"They're great, I never would have thought you buy me a cellphone. The only problem is I don't know how to use it."

"Don't worry, I'll show you later."

"It's not over yet though, we have just one more gift for you that's from all of us," said Rita.

They then led Lincoln upstairs and towards the end of the hallway, where they opened a door to reveal something that surprised Lincoln greatly. "You got me my own room?" he asked in astonishment.

"It used to be a walk-in linen closet but we figure we could convert it into your very own bedroom," said Lana.

Lincoln stepped inside to look around his new living space.

"It's not very big but we hope you'll still like it," said Luna.

"I love it, this," he started to tear up a little, "This is one of the greatest things to happen to me."

The others went "Aw" at this before embracing him in a group hug. For as long as he could remember Lincoln had been living as an orphan who had to go through some very hard times, but now that he had a family he no longer had to go through any of that stuff ever again.


	3. Episode 2

Episode 2

Lincoln felt free as he flew high above the streets and buildings of Royal Woods during the midafternoon. It felt like forever since he was able to explore the town again, but thanks to the whole endangered species policy he was now able to do so almost any time of the day.

There were times where some people would try and snap pictures of him with their cellphones before posting them onto the internet, and there was even one time where someone didn't get the memo and tried to trap him, which resulted in them being arrested for violating said policy.

Today's flight was a little different however as he decided to make a quick visit to his godfather's house to retrieve the items that sat in the crawlspace. His parents did feel a little ashamed for not thinking to bring them to their home but Lincoln assured them that it was alright and that he would get them himself, stating that they had done enough for him already.

He was on his way back home after collecting them when he decided to take a rest on top of one of the taller buildings in town, where he sat himself down onto the ledge and watched traffic move across the roadway below. "Looks like rush hour," he said.

It had been nearly a week since Lincoln was adopted into the Loud family, and while it did take some time for him to get used to things he has grown well accustomed to his new lifestyle, at least for the most part.

As he was looking up towards the sky while daydreaming he heard a commotion going on in an alley on his left side. Feeling curious, he went over to the other ledge and looked down to see what was going on, and what he saw shocked him.

In the alley were a couple of very large teenagers who were physically harassing someone. Lincoln recognized the teenagers as Hank and Hawk, two brutes from Hazeltucky who were among the ones that tried to capture him. Hawk was holding their victim in a full nelson grip while Hank was slamming his fist into the poor guy's gut, thus knocking the wind out of him.

Lincoln did not like what he was seeing, and even though he had no idea who this other person was he wasn't just going to sit there and let those jerks continue to do as they pleased.

Setting the items down on the roof next to him, Lincoln took the bucket he was carrying them in and used his wings to hover over one of his targets. Once he was in the correct position he dropped down into the alley and slammed the bucket onto Hawk's head before repeatedly banging his hand into the side of it.

This caused the bully to loosen his grip on their victim who fell to the ground while gasping for breath. Lincoln then quickly grabbed him by the shoulders and flapped his wings rapidly in order to drag him towards the end of the alley.

Meanwhile, Hank was feeling rather dumbstruck at what had just occurred while his friend stumbled around a bit due to feeling disoriented. He eventually regained his composure however before trying to remove the bucket from his head, and by the time he managed to get it off he and Hank turned their heads to where Lincoln was. "Hey, that's The Royal Woods Devil Bro," said Hank, scowling angrily along with Hawk.

"Let's get it!" his compatriot yelled.

Already forgetting about their previous victim, they charged straight at the young changeling with fury in their eyes. Lincoln reacted quickly and began to fly upwards just as they were getting close to him.

Not willing to let him escape however, Hawk took the bucket he was holding onto and threw it at him before he could get further away from them.

"Nice toss bro," Hank commented.

"Thanks."

Lincoln's head was spinning from being knocked out of the air as he tried to get back up, only to be hoisted off the ground by Hank. "I'm gonna enjoy this," he said while staring menacingly at a frightened Lincoln.

"You and me both bro," said Hawk, cracking his knuckles.

Before either of them could do anything to him though, a police vehicle had suddenly pulled up at the other end of the alley where a couple of officers got out. "You two, step away from the creature!" one of them yelled.

It was at this point that they realized they had forgotten the fact that the Devil was labeled an endangered species. They immediately let go of Lincoln before turning to face the men in blue. "Uh, we weren't actually going to hurt it officers," said Hawk, "We were just trying to teach it on how to defend itself, right bro?"

"Uh, yeah, it asked us to."

They smiled sheepishly at the officers in hopes that they would fall for their little ruse, which they didn't. Lincoln had already gotten back up during all of this and quickly crawled up a wall next to him. He watched from the rooftop as the two brutes were handcuffed before being put into the back of the vehicle. "Those guys seem almost as dumb as ogres," he remarked after hearing their excuse.

Once they drove away from the area he went back down into the alley to retrieve his bucket. He also looked around a bit to see that the person he rescued was no longer in sight. "Huh, he must have ran off or something," he said while scratching the side of his head, "Oh well, at least I managed to help him escape."

Unbeknownst to him however, that same person was actually hiding around a corner from where he was earlier. He watched in bewilderment as the creature pulled out a cellphone after hearing it go off. "Hey Mom," he greeted on the device.

"Hi sweetie, how is your flight today?" she asked.

"Pretty good, I was able to get my stuff from the crawlspace so I'm on my way home now."

"That's good to hear honey. Dinner will be ready in half an hour or so, see you then."

"Bye Mom," he said before hanging up.

Lincoln then flew back up onto the roof where he put the items back into the bucket before heading home.

* * *

It was a beautiful morning in Royal Woods as Veronica rode down the streets. "So are you ready for your first day of school?" Rita asked her son from behind the wheel.

"I think so, although I am feeling a little nervous," he admitted.

"A lot of people are on their first day, but the teacher should help if you have any problems," Lori assured him.

Normally it would take quite a while to get someone enrolled into a school, especially for someone who has never been to one in the first place. Luckily they didn't have to wait that long as Lisa may or may not have pulled a few strings.

After being dropped off at the front of the establishment Lincoln bid farewell to his older sisters and mother before entering the building with his younger sisters, but the moment he walked in through the double doors he felt a little overwhelmed at seeing all of the students crowding the hallway. "We'll see you later Lincoln," Lana said before she and the others went off to their classes.

Lincoln pulled out a map of the school and held it out in front of him. "Let's see now, homeroom should be around this section," he said before making his way towards his designated location.

* * *

"Now then, can anyone tell me who wrote the Declaration of Independence?" Mrs. Johnson asked her students before one of them raised their hand, "Yes Jordon?"

"Um, Thomas Jefferson?" she said unsurely.

"Correct," she responded which made Jordan smile with pride.

Class had started several minutes ago and a certain preteen had not shown up yet. "Now, what town did Thomas Jefferson gre…?" she was interrupted when the door to her classroom was opened, "There you are Lincoln, I expected you to be here sooner."

"Sorry Mrs. Johnson, I got a little lost," he answered.

The teacher raised a brow at this. "Didn't you use the map we gave you during your tour here last week?"

Lincoln rubbed the back of his neck at this. "I did, but it turns out I was holding it upside down."

Some of his classmates snickered a bit at this. "Well since today is your first day and all, I'll let it slide just this once," she said before turning towards her others, "Anyways, we have a new student joining us today. Please welcome Lincoln Loud."

Instead of receiving hellos or hand waves, Lincoln could hear his classmates whispering among each other. "Is he really related to the Loud sisters?" a tall one with orange curly hair asked.

"Yeah, I heard that he was adopted," answered a short one with glasses.

"I reckon it's pretty hard having to put up with Lola," a kid with a southern accent added.

Lincoln wasn't really surprised by all of this. Even before he was adopted into the Loud family he'd learned much about his sisters' reputations in Royal Woods, so he expected something like this would happen. He did blush a little though when the one named Jordan whispered a comment about his white hair towards another female student, but fortunately no one seemed to notice.

After taking his seat among his fellow students the teacher resumed with today's lesson.

* * *

Lincoln was sitting alone at one of the tables in the cafeteria while munching on a sandwich that Lynn Sr. made for him. One of the best things about being adopted into the Loud family was that he got to eat the patriarch's homemade cuisine more often.

His eating was halted however when he noticed that his table was surround by a bunch of other students, including the ones from his homeroom class. This made the boy feel rather uncomfortable but he tried his best not to show it. "Um, can I help you people?"

"Are you really Lincoln Loud, the same guy who was adopted into the Loud family?" asked a girl with light orange hair.

He felt a little taken aback at this. "Yeah but, I didn't expect anyone else to know about it."

"You kidding, you're the big talk at our school," said the short one who Lincoln learned was named Zach.

"Is it true that you used to live inside that old house at the edge of town?" asked the tall one named Rusty.

"Yes, it's true," he answered nervously.

"And is it true that you fought off a serial killer?" a boy with curly red hair asked.

"Er, kind of."

Meanwhile at another table, a trio of boys were watching the scene with some very unhappy expressions with one of them glaring daggers at Lincoln, possibly jealous at seeing him getting all of the attention.

A few minutes later everyone had finished their lunches before the bell rang, signaling that lunch time was over. When Lincoln started to leave the cafeteria however, he was stopped by the one who was eyeing him earlier. "So you're Lincoln huh?"

"Yeah, I take it you've heard of me as well?"

"Sure have, and I gotta say, I'm really impressed with what I've been hearing lately. It must take a lot of guts to fight against a serial killer," he commented.

"Wow uh, thanks," he smiled bashfully.

"Names Chandler by the way, I happen to be the most popular guy in our school," he introduced himself, "And these are my companions Noah and Mike."

Noah was the heavyset kid with dark blonde hair while Mike was the one with the black faux hawk hairstyle. "It's very nice to meet you," Lincoln said while shaking Chandler's hand, "I guess this means that we're both popular."

"Sure seems that way. And you know what, I like you, so I'm gonna offer you something."

"Really, like what?" he asked curiously.

"How would you like to become a member of our group, you can become even more popular?"

"Wow, really?" he asked with a hint of excitement, "But are you sure you want me as a part of your group, I'm not really all that special?"

Chandler pondered this while rubbing his chin. "Tell you what, meet us on the playground during recess where we'll put you through a series of tests to see if you have what it takes to become a member, sound good?"

"I think so, but what kind of tests do you have in mind?"

"Oh, you'll see. Catch ya later," he said before he and his friends headed towards their class while Lincoln left for his.

* * *

Later on that day, Chandler, Noah and Mike were waiting around on the playground until the third member of their party spotted Lincoln running up to them. "Here he comes."

Chandler grinned sinisterly as their guest stopped in front of them. "Good to see you decided to show up Larry."

"It's…it's Lincoln," he said while trying to catch his breath.

"Yeah whatever," he replied nonchalantly.

Lincoln then noticed a group of students standing on the sidelines. "What are they here for?" he asked.

"They're here as witnesses, to see if you are worthy or not to become a member," he explained, "So, are you ready for your first test?"

"I…"

"Good," he interrupted, "Your first test, catch, a yellow jacket."

Lincoln held his arm out after hearing this and made a sort of buzzing sound before the aforementioned insect landed on the back of his hand. "Got one," he said while holding it out towards Chandler.

Lana had taught him a few animal languages with one of them allowing a person to communicate with bees or in this case, yellow jackets. Lincoln was very fortunate to learn this otherwise he would have failed this first test in a very painful way.

"Whoa, did you see that, it just landed on the back of his hand?" one of the spectators said.

"Yeah, and it didn't even sting him either," replied another.

Chandler on the other hand wasn't very happy about this. He expected Lincoln to either chicken out or run away crying after getting stung, which would have then made him look like a wimp among his peers, or at least in his perspective. "Uh, that doesn't count," he said before smacking the insect off of Lincoln's hand.

This turned out to be a big mistake though as it prompted it to sting him. "Ow!"

The yellow jacket flew off after leaving a red bump on Chandler's forehead. "Wah-wah-waaaaah," said Noah.

"I meant two yellow jackets," he said.

Just like before Lincoln used the same method only this time two of them landed on the back of his hand. "That's two of them," one of the witnesses said, to which the others commented on.

"Th-that's not what I meant, I meant, a hundred yellow jackets!" Chandler said in frustration.

Then to everyone's surprise a whole swarm of yellow jackets suddenly flew in before gathering together onto Lincoln's chin, forming into a thick beard that went all the way down to his feet. Some of the students found this one to be rather confusing since Lincoln didn't even make a buzzing sound that time. The young changeling wasn't sure about it either but it would seem that they just happen to like him. "Let's see now, one, two, three, four, five…"

Chandler lost his patience at this point before kicking the makeshift beard, which was an even bigger mistake as it caused him to get stung all over. "Ow, ooh, ah!"

Everyone winced at seeing him covered in red bumps. "Wah-wah-waaaaah," Noah said again.

"Let's just move on to the next test," Chandler said while having his face in his hand.

* * *

They all stood waiting on the right side of the building while Mike went off to check on something. He came back a few minutes later and walked up to Chandler who asked in a hushed tone, "Is he coming?"

"He's on his way right now."

"Good."

The villain then turned towards Lincoln and handed him a hose with a spray nozzle. "For your next test, you have to spray this hose onto that bulls-eye with your eyes shut," he said before pointing towards a target they painted onto the wall.

"Well, okay then," he complied.

The spectators watched with bated breaths as Lincoln aimed the hose at the wall. While all of this was going on though, Coach Pacowski walked onto the scene while carrying a bunch of baseball bats.

Lincoln was unable to stop in time before accidentally spraying the gym teacher. Everyone gasped at this except for Chandler and his posse who were grinning. But instead of yelling at Lincoln and giving him a month's worth of detention, Coach Pacowski smiled at him and said, "Wooh, thanks Loud, I needed a good soak after carrying around all of that sports equipment."

Chandler's jaw dropped before face palming in annoyance. "Wah-wah-waaaaah," Noah said the third time.

"Will you cut that out!?"

"So am I in the group now?" Lincoln asked hopefully.

"No way, we still have more tests for you to take."

* * *

A montage goes on where each of the other tests that Chandler and his goons try to humiliate him with either end up making him look good, and cause something bad to happen to their leader.

The third test resulted in Chandler getting covered in glue and feathers. "Am I in the group now?" Lincoln asked.

Chandler coughed up a feather. "No."

The fourth test resulted in Lincoln accidentally helping a bunch of kindergarteners. "Am I in the group now?"

"No."

The fifth test resulted in Chandler being chased around the gymnasium by a group of angry cheerleaders. "Am I in the group now!?" Lincoln called to him while he and the rest stood on the sidelines.

"NO!" he yelled back in both fear of getting pummeled and in annoyance of being asked the same question.

* * *

The last bell had rung, meaning that it was time for everyone to head home. Chandler however wasn't done yet as he had just one more test for Lincoln. All of the spectators had left so it was only the four of them in the hallway. "Okay Larry, this is your final test," Chandler said before handing him a present, "All you have to do is give this to Principal Huggins and tell him it's a gift, and if he likes what's inside of it, then you'll become an official member of our group."

"Got it," he said with an excited grin.

It didn't take long for Lincoln to find the principal who was just exiting the restroom. "Excuse me, Principal Huggins sir?"

"Yes, can I help you?"

"I have a gift for you, I hope you like it," he said while holding the wrapped box to him.

The principal was a little surprised but smiled gratefully. "Oh why thank you young man."

He then took the present and pulled the lid off, but the very moment he did a spring loaded cream pie splattered onto his face. Lincoln was in shock at what had just transpired before it turned into fear when Principal Huggins gave him an angry glare.

* * *

Lincoln was seated in the principal's office with the latter sitting at his desk in front of him. "Mr. Loud," he said with a neutral tone in his voice, "As a new student to our school I expected you to behave well and not try to pull off any childish pranks like this one."

"But Principal Huggins sir, I…"

"No buts. What you did was perhaps the most foolish thing I have ever seen a student do," his voice then started to take on a more angry tone, "And it's worse since I'm the one who was at the end of it!"

The boy gulped in fear at this.

"So, as punishment for what you did, you are hereby sentenced to…"

"Wait!" someone said after barging into the office.

Lincoln was surprised to see that it was the person that he rescued from Hank and Hawk the other day. The principal on the other hand looked at him in annoyance. "What is it Mcbride, can't you see that I'm in the middle of something?"

"Sorry about the sudden intrusion sir, but I'm here to tell you that what happened a few moments ago wasn't his fault."

The principal raised a brow at this. "Well if it wasn't his fault, who was it then?"

"Chandler, I saw him giving it to him before telling him what to do with it, saying that it was part of some tests."

Huggins felt pretty perplexed at this and turned his attention towards Lincoln for answers. "Well, you see sir, Chandler offered me to become a member of his group by passing a series of tests, with each one either making me look good, or making him look bad."

"What sort of tests were these?" he asked before Lincoln listed each of them, "Oh, I see."

"I didn't even know about it at first, but after seeing what the final test was I now realized that he was just trying to set me up the whole time."

"It would seem that way."

"I just don't get it though, I mean what have I ever done to him?"

"This is just a theory, but it might be because he was jealous of you for getting so much attention lately," the one named Mcbride answered.

Lincoln gave it some thought and concluded that it was most likely the case. "I guess your right about that."

"Well then, considering these circumstances you Mr. Loud are off the hook," the principal clarified.

"Thanks Principal Huggins Sir," he said before leaving the office along with McBride.

After the two of them left, Huggins walked up to his secretary and said, "Cheryl?"

"Yes Principal Huggins?"

"Put me in touch with McCann's parents would you, I'd like to inform them about what their son had been doing in our school today."

"With pleasure."

* * *

Lincoln was walking side by side with his savior as they made their way towards the school entrance. "Hey um, thanks for helping me out back there," he said.

"No problem, it's the least I could do after you saved me the other day."

The boy immediately stopped in his tracks upon hearing this. "Y-you know what I am?"

"Mmhmm," he responded after stopping in his tracks as well, "I saw you talking on your phone in the alley while I was hiding around a corner. Sorry if it seemed like I was spying on you, I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't seeing things."

"Okay but, please don't tell anyone about this, I don't want other people to know who or what I am," he pleaded.

"Don't worry, if it's that important to you, then I won't tell anyone."

"Really?"

Mcbride nodded. "I swear on my Ace Savvy collection not to tell a single soul about it."

Lincoln's eyes widened at the superhero's name being mentioned. "You're a fan of Ace Savvy?"

"Sure am, I take it your one as well?"

"You bet I am," he answered with a grin.

The two of them high fived at this. "Names Clyde by the way," he introduced himself, "And your name is Lincoln, right?"

"Yep, although I would like to ask, how did you know I was the Devil?"

"I recognized your voice when I saw you talking to Chandler and his posse," he explained.

"Oh, that makes sense," he said while rubbing the back of his neck, "So uh, do you want to hang out sometime?"

"Sure, my house just happens to be close to you street."

"Awesome."

By the time they finally reached the school entrance Lincoln could see his sisters waiting in Veronica for him with his mother behind the wheel again. "There's my family, take care," he said to Clyde.

"You too," he responded.

Lincoln stepped into the vehicle and buckled his seatbelt before they drove off. "So sweetie, how was your first day of school?" Rita asked.

"It was great, I made a new friend today who's into Ace Savvy like me."

"That's awesome bro, it looks like things went a lot better for you than you thought," commented Luna.

"Yep, it sure has."


	4. Episode 3

Episode 3

It was another beautiful day in Royal Woods as Lincoln and Clyde were seated in the living room together whilst watching an episode of the famous ghost hunting series ARGHH!, something that Clyde persuaded him to try out.

Sitting on the floor next to the coffee table on their left side was Lily, who was playing with a large pink tablet that lied on the carpet in front of her. The rest of the sisters were out doing some errands along with their father, leaving Lincoln, Lily and their mother at home.

Once the episode came to an end Lincoln turned towards his friend and said, "Wow, you were right Clyde, that was a great series."

"Told ya," he said with a smug grin.

Lincoln picked up the remote to turn off the television but got no response. Assuming that the batteries had just died out, the eleven year old set the controller back down and stood up from the couch, but just as he began to make his way towards the T.V. stand his foot got snagged on a cord before falling forward.

Concerned for his friend's wellbeing, Clyde hurried over and helped him back up. "You okay buddy?"

"I'm alright."

After getting back to his feet the two boys looked to see that the cord belonged to the lamp which was pulled off the end table when he tripped on it, causing it to land right where Lily was. They were relieved to see that she had already moved several feet away from the spot before being crushed, but the same couldn't be said for her tablet.

Lincoln lifted the lamp up to see just how much damage he caused the device, such as the screen being broken into pieces and several of its circuit boards knocked loose from the impact. They also noticed that the frame was bent in the middle a bit.

The boy felt a rush a guilt flow through him the moment he saw his baby sister starting to whimper. Acting quickly, he picked up the little toddler and held her in his arms just as she began to cry. "I'm sorry Lily, I didn't mean to break your tablet like that," he said while patting her back.

He eventually managed to calm her down a little before putting a hand to his chin to try and think of a solution, to which he did. "I know how we can fix it."

Lily sniffled a bit and looked up at her brother. "Balba?" she asked in her babyish language.

"You do?" Clyde added.

Lincoln nodded at them with an assuring smile. He then set Lily back down on the floor and moved the broken tablet onto the coffee table. "You mind keeping an eye on her while I grab something from the basement?" he asked his companion.

"Uh, sure, no problem," he complied.

"Thanks," he looked down at his sister, "Don't go away now Lily, I'll be right back."

With that said he ran into the kitchen and quickly came back with a broom and dustpan. "Better take care of this first," he said before sweeping up the shards of glass.

After depositing them into the trashcan he made his way back into the kitchen and down the cellar steps, leaving Lily to tilt her head in confusion as she sat on the living room floor. "Don't worry Lily, I'm sure your brother knows what he's doing,"

Said brother returned a few minutes later with what appeared to be a small burlap sack in his right hand. Upon his arrival he set the object down next to the tablet before picking the device up again. He then took some kind of powdery substance out of the sack and sprinkled it onto the tablet.

Lily's eyes widened in awe while Clyde's eyes widened in shock as the device was suddenly surrounded in a thin yellowish aura before it started to fix itself. The circuit boards reasserted themselves back into their proper place while the frame straightened itself out. After that the remains of the broken screen expanded throughout the front of it like molten glass.

In only a short minute the tablet looked exactly the way it was before the lamp fell on top of it. Lily babbled joyfully and clapped her hands while Clyde remained speechless. Lincoln turned on the device and handed it to his little sister who eagerly took it. "There we go, good as new."

She didn't seem to be paying attention to him as she was already caught up in whatever game she was playing. Lincoln didn't really care about this though, he was just glad to see her smiling again.

After quickly getting over his stupor, Clyde looked at his compatriot and asked, "Just what in the world was that stuff?"

"Just some powder I keep in my chest. It's very useful in repairing old or broken objects."

Clyde felt a little perplexed at this. "Is that the only thing you have in there?"

"No, there's a lot more stuff inside of it, but I'm not going to get into those right now."

"Huh, and I take it the rest of your family already knows about this."

Lincoln rubbed the back of his neck at this. "Actually, they don't," he admitted, "In fact, I haven't used any of them for a long time, at least not until now that is."

"Really, how come?" he asked.

"Because they all remind me of whatever awful thing had occurred in my home world, even just looking at them makes me feel uncomfortable," he explained before placing the bag on the floor behind him.

"But if that's the case, then why are you still holding onto them?"

Lincoln was quiet for a second. "They once belonged to my Mom, including the chest itself," he said with a hint of sadness in his tone, "I only used this particular item so that Lily wouldn't be sad."

"Oh, I understand," he said with sympathy, "If you like, I could help your parents set up an appointment for you with Dr. Lopez, I'll bet she can help. Plus, she's very trustworthy so you don't have to worry about keeping your true self a secret from her."

"I'll think about it."

* * *

Veronica pulled up into the driveway where the sisters got out and approached the back of the vehicle. There they took a bag containing various items into each hand while Lynn Sr. unlocked the front door before stepping aside to let his daughters through. After everything was put into its proper place the girls ascended the stairs and entered their shared bedrooms.

Once she was in her room Lisa sat herself down at her desk and reached into one of the drawers for her tablet. "Now then, let's see what our adoptive brother has been up to during our absence," she said before switching on the device.

The little Einstein made it her objective to study Lincoln by observing his actions through the surveillance cameras that she installed within their home. Normally they were to be used as security measures in case of any burglary or vandalism, but ever since Lincoln became a part of their family her scientific curiosity compelled her to use them for this kind of occasion.

The first camera she switched to showcased her brother crawling up a tree in the backyard with his shirt tied around his waist. He eventually reached a small nest that was perched near the top where he set a baby bird down inside of it. The mother bird who was standing next to the nest chirped after he did this. "You're welcome," he said in response.

"It seems that some of the animal languages Lana taught him have proven to be quite useful to him," Lisa said while writing down the information.

The next one displayed him attempting to hang upside down on the attic rafters like a bat, only to fall onto the floor shortly afterwards. He rubbed the side of his head and said, "Dang it, how is Lucy even able to do that for so long?"

"That is something that even I have yet to understand."

The third camera depicted him watching some television along with his new friend. "I fail to see how a show that focuses on hunting non-existent entities would be considered as entertaining."

Lisa almost cringed at the part where Lincoln accidentally pulled the lamp off the end table but was glad to see that Lily wasn't near the same spot where it landed. She continued to watch the footage while sipping from a juice box that she kept on the side, only to almost choke on it at what she saw a moment later.

She rewound the video several times and even zoomed in a little to see if she was just seeing things, but in the end she confirmed that it was no hallucination. Lisa then placed the tablet back into the drawer and leaned back in her chair with a look of bafflement. "It would seem that there's more to our adoptive brother than I originally thought," she said softly.

Oddly enough, it wasn't Lincoln that she had her mind on at the moment, it was the powdery substance that she saw him using. Figuring that she wasn't going to get her answers by just sitting around, Lisa pulled out her tablet again and went to seek out some assistance on what she planned on doing.

* * *

All of the Loud sisters except Lily, who was busy taking a nap at the moment, were gathered together in Lori and Leni's bedroom for another one of their sibling meetings. Lincoln was absent from said meeting due to having a doctor's appointment and although it didn't feel right to have one without him Lisa insisted that they kept it a secret from him until further notice.

Lori tapped her show on the sewing table to silence the others before turning towards the four year old. "Alright Lisa, explain to us why you decided to call for this meeting without our brother's involvement."

"An excellent question eldest sister, for I have discovered something quite unusual," she said before wheeling in a projection screen, "I was going over each of our surveillance cameras for any glitches or such when I happened upon a recently recorded video footage which, upon my curiosity, displayed our adoptive brother performing something that seems to defy the laws of physics."

She then played the same footage on the large screen for them all to see, and just like when she first saw it they each had bewildered looks on their faces. "Wai-how di-wha? Lynn stuttered.

The rest were at a loss for words except Lisa. "My thoughts exactly."

After the video was over with the girls' confusions were turned into sympathy at what their brother said near the end. "Poor Linky, it's no wonder he didn't want to talk about what was in his chest," said Leni.

"It is rather sad indeed, but I'm afraid that's not important right now. What _is_ important is the mysterious powder that Lincoln used to fix our youngest sibling's tablet. Whatever this substance is I intend to study its capability but am unable to acquire it from within that chest of his, which is why I would like to ask for your assistance in helping me obtain it. And as a proposition I'll let each of you use it to repair any broken possession you may have."

Half of the girls beamed at the offer. Lori's cellphone was accidentally dropped into a mud puddle and got damaged from all the moisture. It would take a long while for her to earn enough money to buy a new one, but it looked like she wouldn't have to wait that long.

Luan had a second ventriloquist dummy named Mr. Suave, who got his head chewed off by a vicious raccoon that found its way into their home. The resident comedian was eager to use the stuff to fix her little friend.

Lynn had accidentally swung her lucky baseball bat against a lamp post and nearly broke it in half, leaving the upper part dangling. The athlete refused to throw it out though as it was far too important to her.

Lola on the other hand just wanted to use the powder on some of her dresses because of how pretty it looked. "Yeah well, you can count me out dudette," said Luna, "It just ain't right for us to be messing around with bro's things without his permission."

The other half agreed to this and left the bedroom, leaving Lori, Luan, Lynn, Lola and Lisa as the only ones remaining. "So, what's the plan?" the little pageant queen asked.

* * *

Lincoln was seated in the living room again while playing some Muscle Fish, one of the many gifts that his sisters got him on the day of his adoption. Despite the fact that he'd never played video games before, the high score at the top of the screen indicated that he was already a pro at it.

Before he could make it to level thirteen however, Lola walked in while holding a plate with a single muffin. "Oh Linky."

He paused the game. "Yeah sis?"

"I made this delicious muffin just for you," she said before setting it down on the table.

"Wow, thanks Lola."

Instead of eating it like she expected him to, Lincoln continued to play his game. "Aren't you going to eat it?"

"That's okay, I'll have it later."

"But I made it in a very special way."

"Thanks, but I already had a snack not long ago so I…"

"Eat it or I'll tell Mom and Dad that you've been sneaking out onto the roof during bedtime!" she said threateningly.

Though feeling taken aback by the unexpected threat, Lincoln complied and bit down on the home made pastry. The moment he swallowed the first bite however, he suddenly began to feel drowsy. "Wha-what is…?"

Lola smiled sinisterly as her brother fell back onto the sofa unconscious. "Sweet dreams Linky."

She went to meet up with the others who were waiting upstairs in the hallway. "Mission accomplished."

"Good, that should keep him and the rest of our siblings out for an hour or two," said Lisa.

Apparently Lincoln wasn't the only one who was offered a muffin by Lola. The five perpetrators entered their brother's bedroom and began to search for what they needed to open the chest with. After rummaging through his furniture and possessions, Lynn said, "I found it."

They looked to see her holding a large key with an emerald embedded into the head. "Nice work Lynn, now let's get down into the basement before Mom and Dad get home and find out what we're doing," Lori said.

Once they reached the cellar Lori approached the chest and inserted the key into the lock, only to discover that it wouldn't turn. "What the…?" she said before trying to move it, "Come on, what's wrong with this thing?"

"Let me give it a shot," said Lynn.

The seventeen year old moved to the side to let her attempt at turning it, but try as she might the key simply refused to budge. "How was Lincoln even able to get this thing open?" Lori asked in confusion.

The others shrugged at this. "Why don't we just try picking the lock?" Luan suggested.

Lynn face palmed after hearing this. "Why didn't we think of that earlier?"

Lola took out one of her bobby pins and gestured for her sisters to move aside. They waited as she moved the little plastic object in different angles in hopes of getting the chest open, but what they didn't expect however was for her to suddenly get electrocuted. They watched in shock (no pun intended) as her whole body vibrated from the electrical current while her hair fully stood up. The next thing they knew she was suddenly shot across the room and smacked against the wall, where she peeled off the surface a few seconds afterwards before landing on her face.

Her sisters rushed over to her side. "You alright sis?" Lynn asked while helping her up.

"Oooooh, what happened?"

After finally collecting herself Lola took out a compact mirror and looked at her reflection, only to scream at her appearance before zooming up the basement steps. "Well that was a bit of a _shock_, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, get it?"

"Now is not the right time for humor Luan," Lisa lectured her, "It's most likely that this chest has been created by some sort of alien technology, which means that any attempt to open it will not be as simple as we anticipated."

"Yeah well, alien or not, this thing has to give in at some point," Lynn said, "Looks like it time to use force."

Lori looked at her with a 'Are you kidding me' look. "You're not literally serious are you?"

"Pffft, relax, even if we end up breaking it we can always just use that miracle dust to fix it."

"Good point," she replied with a grin.

Lynn went over to a shelf that was situated in a corner where she searched through the inside of a toolbox before pulling out a crowbar. "This oughta do the trick."

She then inserted the tool beneath the lid and pressed down on it to try and get the chest open. Seeing how much she was struggling Lori decided to lend a hand and together they used all of their strength to push down on the crowbar in order to pry the lid open.

Unfortunately this resulted in them accidentally ripping the crowbar off and sent it flying across the room, forcing Luan to duck down before it embedded itself into the wall above her. The comedian's heart was racing after almost being impaled in the face.

Realizing that they couldn't get the lid to open, Lynn decided to use a much different approach. She ran up the stairs and eventually came back down with a golf club. "No more mister nice guy."

She ran towards the chest and slammed the metal rod down onto the lid, but instead of it breaking open like she expected it to, it remained perfectly in tack while the club itself was bent in the same shape as the top of the chest, causing their eyes to shoot wide open at its appearance.

* * *

Meanwhile…

Lynn Sr. was working in the kitchen preparing tonight's dinner. He was dressed in his chef's hat while stirring some sauce in a small pot before taste testing it. "Needs a bit more paprika."

Eventually he decided to take a little break and walked into the living room, where he found Lincoln fast asleep on the sofa. "Aw, sport must have tired himself out from all of his video game playing," he said with a compassionate smile.

He then noticed the muffin sitting on the coffee table. He wasn't sure who made it but he speculated that it was made for his son. "I'm sure Lincoln wouldn't mind if I take one little bite. I mean I have been working hard in the kitchen lately."

Lynn picked up the muffin and bit down on it. "Not bad," he said before suddenly collapsing onto the floor.

* * *

Lori held up the circular saw while Luan plugged it into an outlet. "All set," she said to her.

The eldest sibling activated the saw and moved it onto the top corner of the lid hoping that it would cut it open, but in an unexpected manner the saw's teeth broke off the metallic disk, causing them to pierce the wall around Lisa who had her body in an odd position as well as a look of terror on her face.

They then tried to use a reciprocating saw but wound up breaking the saw blade in half. Next, Lynn attempted to use a sledge hammer but it resulted in her whole body vibrating uncontrollably the moment it made contact with the chest. After that Lisa used a welding torch but even the wood remained unscathed. "Never in all my years have I ever seen such a reinforced object," she said with a bit of astonishment.

"Who cares about how strong it is, I just want to know how we're going to get it open," Lori complained.

"To be honest, I'm starting to think that this might be a lost cause," Luan piped up.

"Come on, we can't stop now, I mean it's not like this thing is enchanted or anything," Lynn tried to encourage.

"But we've already tried out everything we have on it and none of them worked," Lori pointed out.

"Actually, there is one other method we haven't tried out yet," Lisa said.

She walked up the cellar steps and eventually came back down while carrying a beaker containing some kind of liquid. "What's that?" Luan asked.

"Just some homemade nitroglycerin I've been working on. A few drops of this concoction should destroy the lock on that chest thus finally giving us access to that mysterious powder and whatever else is inside."

A few of them stood behind an old sofa while Lisa approached the chest and dripped the chemical onto the lock before quickly dashing to their side. "If my calculations are correct, it should detonate right, about…"

The explosion was so loud it could be heard from miles away. "Louds, keep it down will ya, I'm trying to take a nap here!" yelled their grumpy next door neighbor.

The four girls were slack jawed at the damage before them. While the chest was completely unharmed from the explosion, much to their frustration, the section of the basement where it rested at was scorched. "Oops," Lisa chuckled nervously, "I guess my concoction was more powerful than I anticipated."

Lynn sniffed the air for a second. "You guys smell something burning?"

"Uh, yeah, I think that giant burn mark would be pretty obvious," Lori stated.

"No, not that," she retorted, "It smells like it's coming from upstairs."

"Ah, my casserole!" yelled the patriarch.

The sisters looked at one another with nervous expressions.

* * *

Everyone was gathered in the living room with the five delinquents standing side by side with their heads down in shame while the others stood in front of them with some not so happy looks. After seeing the damage they had caused in the basement as well as some of the tools they kept, the parents were quite furious with them. "Would any of you girls care to explain what it is you've been doing?" Rita demanded.

Knowing that there was no escape at this point, Lori was the first one to speak up. "The truth is, we've been trying to get inside of Lincoln's chest."

"Wait, what?" he asked in shock before becoming angry, "So that's why you drugged me and the others with those muffin earlier?"

They nodded in response.

"I-I can't believe you guys!" he yelled, "I thought I could trust you to never go through any of my stuff, but after hearing what you did I'm not sure if I can trust you at all."

The four of them felt a pang of guilt from this. To say that the parents weren't shocked from this as well would be rather ridiculous. "So not only did you girls violate your own brother's privacy, you also caused major damage which led to us getting complaints from neighbors about that loud explosion you created," said the matriarch.

"Not to mention the fact that you ruined my precious golf club," said their father, "What could possibly be in your brother's chest that would cause you girls to do something this reckless?"

Lisa decided to take the stage at this point. "Allow me to elaborate."

The next few minutes were spent with Lisa telling them about the surveillance footage and what it led up to. At first the parents were bewildered at the fact that Lincoln had such a wondrous substance in his possession, but then their bewilderment turned into sympathy as they looked at their son. "Is what she said true sweetie?" his mother asked.

Lincoln gave a sigh at this. "It's true," he answered, "I'm sorry I never told you guys about this earlier, it was just hard for me to bring it up without having to mention any of the things I keep inside of it."

"You don't have to apologize bro, we already know how you were feeling about it," said Luna.

"Yeah, a lot of people have a hard time talking about the things that makes them feel uncomfortable," Lana added.

"And I'm sure you'll be able to look at your Mom's stuff again one day," Lori spoke, "We're really sorry for what we tried to do Lincoln, it was wrong of us to try and snoop around at your possessions earlier."

"Yeah, it was pretty dumb of us to try and take advantage of that gold dust you keep in your chest like that," said Lynn while rubbing her arm, "I'm probably better off just using tape to fix my lucky baseball bat."

"And to be honest, Mr. Suave always was a bit of a jerk anyways," Luan admitted.

"And I guess I don't really need some sparkly dust to make myself look beautiful or anything," Lola said.

"Well I am still pretty mad at what you guys did earlier, but I can still forgive you for it," said Lincoln.

"Thanks Lincoln," said Lori before looking at her parents, "So are we still in trouble?"

"Oh you know it," Rita replied, "Let's see now, what would be a suitable punishment for you five."

It took only three seconds for her to think of something. "Since tonight's dinner got ruined, I think we should order Chinese," she proposed, "Everyone gets to have whatever they want on the menu."

The siblings cheered at this, including the guilty party.

"However, the five of you will be paying for everybody's meals, including your own."

The aforementioned girls felt down casted after hearing this.

"And you are to also clean up the mess you made in the basement as well as pay for all of the things that you broke earlier, including my golf club."

"Yes sir," they replied in depressed states.

* * *

It was later in the evening and after having his fill of egg rolls and shrimp Lo Mein, Lincoln sat in his bedroom whilst reading some more of his Ace Savvy comics. He was broken out of his concentration though by some knocking on his door. "Come in," he answered before seeing his gothic sister entering.

"Hey Lincoln, sorry to interrupt your comic book reading, but can I borrow your laptop for a while?"

"What's wrong with yours?"

"My friend's accidentally broke it."

Lincoln felt pretty confused at this. "I don't recall you bringing any of your friends from school over."

"I didn't say they were my human friends."

While this did make him feel uncomfortable, he decided to not think too much on it. "Well that depends, what do you need it for?"

"I'm trying to write a short story with a dramatic ending, just like my favorite author Edgar Allen Poe."

"Yeah, sure thing," he complied.

He stood up from his bed and unplugged his laptop before handing it to Lucy. "Thanks Lincoln."

Before she could leave his bedroom however, Lincoln stopped her. "So what kind of story are you working on?"

"Nothing really, I've been having some serious writer's block lately."

"Have you asked the others for any ideas?"

"I did, but they weren't very helpful."

* * *

"A short story with a dark ending huh?" Lynn asked, "I think I have one, it's about an athlete who lost the World Championship in the most humiliating way."

"Thanks Lynn, but your idea isn't exactly what I'm looking for."

"Pfft, suit yourself," she replied nonchalantly.

* * *

"I know a good story," said Lola, "It's about a beautiful princess who's forced to live with a smelly slob."

"Oh yeah, well mine is about a helpful and carefree person who is forced to live with a snobbish princess."

"You want to say that again!?"

"I'll just show myself out," said Lucy.

* * *

"Ooh, I got one," said Leni, "It's about a girl who decides to visit the mall one day, but when she got there she saw that all of the stores have gone out of business!"

The ditzy one screamed and ran away in terror, causing Lucy to shake her head.

* * *

"Huh, I thought at least one of them would have something useful," Lincoln said before he came up with something, "Actually, I do have an idea for one, if you're interested that is."

"I'm listening."

He sat on the edge of his bed and gestured for her to sit next to him. Once she did that her brother said, "It's about a kingdom that fell into ruin because its ruler went mad."

Lucy felt intrigued by this and placed the laptop onto her lap. "Tell me more."

* * *

The Downfall of Lordran

By Lucy Loud

_In ancient times people have lived in fear of powerful monsters who reigned over the landscape with iron fists. Many humans were forced to live beneath the earth in order to escape from the ruthless creatures, and only those brave enough would risk venturing to the surface in search of food and other resources. _

_One day however, a man named Gwyn plotted to overthrow the tyrants and establish himself as their new ruler, one that is wiser and fairer towards others. To do this, he spoke to the goddess Izalith and requested her assistance in his mission. The goddess agreed to help him on one condition, that he and his followers should always devote themselves to her. After Gwyn had sworn loyalty to her, the goddess gifted him what most consider to be the most powerful substance in the kingdom, The Flame of Izalith, which is said to be as big as a carriage. _

_With this powerful flame, Gwyn amassed an army to aid him in his battle against the monsters. It was a long and grueling battle, but thanks to the goddess's gift Gwyn and his forces overpowered their enemy and freed the humans from their terror. _

_It wasn't long after their victory that Gwyn began to use the Flame's power to build his kingdom, where he appointed himself as Emperor Gwyn. He created new laws for his subjects to follow, and it was because of these laws that people have lived much better lives than they did before. Of course Gwyn did not forget his promise to the goddess, and to show his devotion to her he erected a cathedral in her name. _

_Things had become more splendid with Gwyn as their leader, who was beloved by many of his subjects as well as his servants, but sadly not all of it was as it seemed. During his reign Gwyn had mastered many forms of magic including some of the most advanced spells in Lordran. One of these spells allowed the caster to live for long periods of time, which is what Gwyn used to keep himself appointed as Emperor, for he believed that no one but himself would know how to lead his kingdom. _

_As the years passed Gwyn had grown more powerful to the point where he believed himself to have ascended to godhood, and it was because of this arrogance that the emperor of Lordran resented Izalith and persuaded his subjects to worship him instead. _

_This made the goddess furious with Gwyn, and as punishment for breaking his promise to her, she cast a curse upon him. This curse had turned Gwyn into an undead being, and although he had already found a way to prevent himself from dying, he was now unable to ever sleep or eat. To make things even worse for him, this curse would also cause him to slowly lose his sanity, eventually becoming what is referred to in Lordran as a Hollow, a zombie like being that has absolutely no awareness of any of its surroundings or even its own existence. _

_Fearing the outcome of this curse, Gwyn sought help from his most loyal servant Seath, a highly skilled sorcerer who was given the title of Duke, which is said to be the highest rank a noble can get. With his assistance, Gwyn had altered the flame so that its power would change him back to human, thus preventing him from going hollow. However, this solution did not work as well as they thought. The flame _was _created to last forever, but by tampering with its power the two of them made so that it would slowly dwindle before fading out completely. _

_Unlikely ordinary fire though, the flame of Izalith contained immense power, so it would take a year for it to go out. After doing much research Gwyn and Seath learned that in order to keep the fire going they would need to throw a human being into it as kindling, for the flame represented the soul found within humanity. _

_Near the end of each year Seath would use one of his creations to go out and capture an unsuspecting person before taking them back to the palace, where they are immediately thrown into the fire. He would also use his powers of illusions to make it seem as if the person had died from natural causes. _

_The two of them had been keeping this a secret for several years, but unfortunately their secret did not last forever. It wasn't long after word got out of what they were doing that the people of Lordran began to rebel against Gwyn, including his once faithful knights. Before they could apprehend their so called beloved ruler he and his servant Seath had already fled, and had even taken the flame with them. _

_At first it seemed as if they didn't have to worry much about Gwyn harming any of them ever again, but they thought wrong. A few days after he went into hiding Gwyn's image had appeared on every bonfire and fireplace throughout Lordran, where he said to his former subjects, "I gave you and your ancestors' freedom from the demons that once terrorized these lands, and now you all decided to turn against me even after everything I've done for you. What I did was for the greater good of this kingdom, something that none of you could understand. Now, you shall all suffer the same fate that I was given." _

_Right after he said this every human within Lordran was suddenly inflicted with the same curse, and unlike their treacherous ruler they had no means of keeping themselves from going hollow. Some have managed to hold onto their sanity longer than others, but even they had fully succumbed to the dreadful curse. _

_And that is how Lordran, a once great kingdom fell into ruin.  
_

* * *

After she had finished transferring the story onto her flash drive Lucy looked at her brother and said, "Thanks Lincoln, this is exactly the kind of story I was looking for."

"No problem."

"Do you perhaps have other stories you can share with me?"

"Yeah, but we'll save those for another time, it's getting late."

"Alright," she stood up from his bed, "Have a good night Lincoln."

"Night sis," he said before watching her leave.


	5. Episode 4

Episode 4

A ship decorated with streamers sailed across the Atlantic Ocean with a beautiful sunset in the background. Three individuals could be seen standing on the main deck of the ship, two of which are men and the third one a woman. "In today's episode, Captain Karen finally decides on who to name her first mate, but which will she choose?" said the narrator, "Will it be the accordion playing Brock, or the masculine Blaine, find out now?"

Lori, Leni, Luna and Lola were on the edge of their seats as they watched the newest episode of Dream Boat together in the living room together. Lynn Jr. was also among them but only because she lost a bet with Lola on who could eat the most cupcakes, so the penalty was that she had to partake in the kind of things that the six year old enjoyed.

While most of them were delving into the episode, their brother came entering through the front door looking quite worn out. If one were to look closely they could see that he possessed some bruises as well as a few scratch marks. Lincoln immediately took notice of his sisters watching their favorite T.V. show, and while he did enjoy the series as well he just wasn't in the mood to join them.

Due to having no interest in the series whatsoever, Lynn was the only one to acknowledge his presence. Sensing that something was off, she snuck away from the others and followed her brother into the kitchen, where she saw him grab a can of soda from the fridge before approaching him. "Hey bro, is something the matter?" she asked.

"Oh, hey sis, nothing's the matter," he responded nonchalantly.

She crossed her arms. "Really, because the sound of your tone says otherwise."

"It's not something you should concern yourself about," he stated bluntly.

She however wasn't buying it. "Yeah well, it does," she crossed her arms, "Now tell me what's going on?"

He was starting to lose his patience. "There's nothing going on."

"Oh yeah, well I think…"

"I said leave me alone!"

Lynn was silent after that little outburst, which did not go unheard by the others. Before either of them knew it, half of their sisters who were in the living room earlier were now in the kitchen, some of them looking a bit annoyed at the sudden noise. "What's going on in here?" Lori demanded.

They all looked at Lincoln with stern expressions, including Lynn who already snapped out of her state of shock. Lincoln realized his mistake at this point and lowered his head in shame. "I'm sorry, I've just been having a very rough day today," he admitted, "Heck, it's the reason why I have these injuries."

Upon hearing this, the girls examined him and could see that he was correct. Now feeling concerned for her little brother, Lori took a seat at the kitchen table and gestured for her brother to do the same. "Aren't you going to miss out on the episode?" he asked.

"I'll just watch the rest of it on the rerun," she replied before turning to the others, "You guys can go and watch the rest of it if you want."

"Actually, I'm more interested in what our little bro's been through," said Luna.

The rest of them agreed to this. Doing as he was told, Lincoln sat down next to Lori who placed an arm over his shoulders. "Now, tell us what's going on."

Sighing, Lincoln continued to look at the floor and said, "It all started around yesterday at school."

* * *

The bell rang as students filed into the hallways for their next period class. Lincoln was collecting a few things from his locker while chatting with his fellow classmate Liam. "So Lincoln, you ever been to Gus' Games and Grub?"

"Nope, never have," he answered.

"Well you're sure gonna love it, they got lots of fun games and great food, especially them garlic knots," he explained, "The rest of our group are heading over there at five, you can join us if you wanna?"

"Sure, I'm looking forward to it."

"Great, we'll see you then."

After waving his friend off Lincoln then began to make his way towards _his_ period class, only to stop in his tracks the moment he felt his foot stepping on something, followed by a cracking sound. The boy looked down to see that he accidentally stepped on a portable music player and broke it. 'Oops, someone must have dropped it,' he thought.

He then looked up to see who he speculated to be the owner standing in front of him with a shocked expression. "Yo-you broke my MP3 player."

Lincoln felt pretty guilty at this. "I'm really sorry about that," he said, "I think I can make it up to you though."

The owner looked at him suspiciously. "And just how are you going to do that?"

Lincoln reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "How much was it exactly?"

"I don't know, like ten bucks."

To the other student's surprise Lincoln handed over the money. He wasn't sure why the kid appeared to be taken aback at this, but he decided to just ignore it. "I have to get to class now, take care."

The unnamed figure watched him leave with a look of bewilderment on their face.

* * *

Lincoln was browsing around the comic book shop from within the Royal Woods Mall for the latest Ace Savvy issue. Once he found what he was looking for he purchased the item and walked out of the store. He then took out his phone to check the time and saw that it read 3:30 p.m.

Seeing that he still had some time before his meet up, Lincoln decided to buy himself a smoothie. He went to stand in line at a smoothie stand which seemed to be going a little slowly due to an elderly woman who was having a hard time deciding on what flavor to get. Speaking of flavor, Lincoln himself was also contemplating on what kind of smoothie he should get while waiting in line. That is until he spotted a sign that read, "New Mango Flavor, now only three bucks."

By the time it was finally his turn he ordered the new flavor feeling eager to try it out. As he left the smoothie stand he failed to see where he was going and accidentally bumped into someone, causing them to drop _their_ smoothie.

Lincoln was a little surprised to see that it was the same person he ran into earlier that day who seemed rather upset at having their drink spilled. This of course made Lincoln feel ashamed at what he just did. "Sorry about that," said he, "You can have mine if you want, I haven't drank out of it yet."

"What flavor is it?"

"Mango."

The person eyed the cup suspiciously and then without saying a word took the cup and walked away. At first Lincoln was planning on getting himself another smoothie, but when he saw the time on his phone he realized that he needed to get going.

* * *

The redhead trio stood waiting outside of Gus' Games and Grub until they spotted Lincoln running up to them. "Hey man, glad to see you made it," said Rusty.

"Thanks, I've been looking forward to this for a while now."

Lincoln then noticed that someone was missing. "Hold on, where's Clyde?" he asked, "Wasn't he going to join us?"

"I called him a little while ago, he said that he and his dad caught a cold so he won't be able to make it," Zach explained.

"Oh, well I hope they feel better soon."

With that said the four of them entered the establishment where they were immediately greeted with the smell of fresh pizza and garlic knots. All around them they could see many children their age playing with the various arcade games while chowing down on delicious pizza.

They took a seat at one of the booths and ordered themselves a large pan pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms and olives as well as a side of garlic knots. "You guys were right, these are good," said the eleven year old while holding a half-eaten garlic knot.

"I know right?" Rusty asked.

After finishing his third slice Lincoln went to try out some of the gaming consoles the place had in store. The ones he had the most fun with were a first person zombie shooter and a two player Muscle Fish brawler, the latter of which he fought against Rusty before triumphantly wiping the floor with him.

He was heading over to play some ski ball when a particular game caught his attention. It was a dancing simulator called Dance Battle, one where players have to step on the arrows that were built into the platform in the same order they appeared on the screen.

Intrigued, Lincoln decided to try out that game instead. Once he started it up he began to move his legs while keeping his eyes on the screen above, and before long he was already in synch to the rhythm. He eventually managed to win a new high score to which he threw his arms and yelled, "Yes, woohoo!"

When he turned to step off the platform however, he discovered that there was an identical one situated right next to the one he just used, and standing on _its_ platform was the same unnamed figure. "You actually beat me at my own game," the person said in bafflement.

Lincoln mentally face palmed for not realizing that he was playing against someone. "At least you gave it your best shot," he complimented yet lied a little.

The person seemed to be slightly taken aback by the compliment, much to Lincoln confusion. The former's expression then turned from bewilderment to seriousness and said, "By the way, that smoothie you offered me was kiwi, which I'm allergic to."

Lincoln was a little shocked at this. "Wait, really?"

The figure nodded.

"Huh, sorry about that, I guess they accidentally gave me the wrong flavor or something."

Instead of agreeing to what he said though, the stranger grabbed him by the shirt and said, "Meet me on the side of the building once you and your friends are done here, and come alone."

"Uh, okay?" he replied, not sure what was going on before the other kid let go of him and walked away.

Lincoln turned to see his friends watching the whole scene with fearful expressions. "What's wrong with you guys?"

"Dude, don't you know who that is?" Rusty asked.

"No, do you?"

"Sure do, that there is Ronnie-Anne, the toughest and most aggressive girl in our school," Liam revealed.

"A lot of students try to stay away from her because of what she'll do to them if they made her mad," Zach added.

"She can't be that bad," Lincoln argued, not quite believing what they were saying.

"Oh yeah, well I heard a few days ago that someone accidentally spilled cherry juice on her favorite shirt, and before he knew it his arm gets broken," the tall one of the trio counter argued.

"And since you went and gave her something that she's allergic to, she'll probably do something even worse to ya," Liam said.

Now that he thought about it, giving her the smoothie was just one of the few problems he caused her lately. Lincoln gulped nervously at what the aforementioned girl intended to do to him.

* * *

It was now after 6:00 p.m. and all three of Lincoln's companions were heading home while the former went to meet with Ronnie-Anne just like he said he would. The reason why he was going through with this was because he thought that it would just make her angrier if he ran away instead. His friends offered to come with him in case he needed any support, but Lincoln told them that he'd rather try to handle things himself, perhaps try to reason with her. Of course he also had an escape plan in case things go awry.

Despite hoping that she wouldn't show up, he found her standing in the middle of an alley with her arms crossed while tapping her foot impatiently. The moment she saw him approaching she smiled with half closed eyelids. "Good to see you're not a coward like the others."

"Uh, thanks," he responded, "Listen, I know we haven't been on good terms lately, but I just want you to know that…"

"What's your name?"

"Huh?" he asked confusedly.

"I said, what's your name?"

"Um, it's Lincoln, Lincoln Loud."

"Lincoln huh?" she repeated, "Stop me if I'm wrong, but aren't you the same guy I've been hearing about lately, the one who used to live inside that cruddy old house?"

"Yeah, that's me."

She gave the same grin but with a raised brow, indicating that she was rather intrigued. "Well then, that just makes things more interesting."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Instead of giving him a straight answer however, Ronnie-Anne walked up to him until she was about a foot in front of him. Lincoln sweated a little as he braced himself for what she was going to do to him, but before he could even ask what it was she suddenly grabbed his shoulder and forcefully pulled him towards her. He felt his face heat up the very moment a pair of lips made contact with his right cheek.

Ronnie-Anne released her grip on him, allowing him to take several steps back. "Wh-what was that for!?"

"Because Lincoln, you are now my new boyfriend."

Lincoln felt quite bewildered at this. Here he thought that Ronnie-Anne was planning to beat him up for all of the grief he caused her, but instead she proclaimed him as her new soul mate. He didn't like the idea though considering of what his friends told him about her. "I'm afraid I'll have to decline," he told her, "I'm just not interested in having a girlfriend."

"Yeah well, too bad," she stated bluntly, "I really like you Lincoln, and I don't like taking no for an answer."

While he did feel somewhat flattered at what she said about liking him, he still didn't want to be her boyfriend. He was about to make a counter argument but was unable to get a word out as Ronnie-Anne checked the time on her phone. "Love to stay and chat some more, but I better get home before my mom and brother start to worry about me," she said before giving him a teasing look, "Catch you later boyfriend."

Lincoln couldn't help but feel annoyed at that last part as he watched her leave. He then quickly realized that he needed to get home as well before taking off.

* * *

The young changeling was enjoying his meatball sub as he sat in the cafeteria along with his compatriots. Lynn Sr. had to leave for work early so he was unable to make lunch for his kids, and while the sub wasn't as good as his father's cooking it was still a lot better than the other choices. At first his friends were relieved to see that he was completely unharmed, but were now confused after he told them about what happened yesterday. It's not that we don't believe man, it's just a little hard for us to accept," said Rusty.

"Yeah, a lot of us wouldn't have expected the Queen of Pain to be interested in having a boyfriend," Zach said.

"Well that's what really happened," Lincoln confirmed, "Hopefully she'll respect my decision of not wanting to be in a relationship."

"Oh I wouldn't say that," said a familiar voice.

Lincoln turned to see Ronnie-Anne standing behind him while holding a tray with a bowl of soup on top. Without even asking she sat down next to him before giving each of his friends a threatening glare. They instantly took the hint and went to another table, leaving Lincoln alone with her. "Here Lincoln, try some of my spicy chicken soup my mom made," she said while holding up an extra spoon.

"I really don't want…" she shoved the spoon into his mouth, causing him to gasp repeatedly before chugging down his carton of milk.

"Don't worry, once you get used to its spiciness it tastes really good."

* * *

Lincoln was out flying around Royal Woods again when he decided to take a rest at the town park, where he shifted into his human form while keeping himself hidden behind some bushes. As he sat on the ground with his back against a tree, he couldn't help but think back to what he'd been through earlier that day. Not only did Ronnie-Anne bother him during lunch time, she also forced him to play tetherball with her during recess, which wouldn't be so bad if she didn't keep sending the ball towards him at high speed. "I never thought that things would turn out like this," he said aloud.

He eventually pushed these thoughts aside and closed his eyes, but just as he was finally starting to relax he felt someone's fingers pinching his cheek. "Ow!" he sat up straight.

"Didn't think I'd find you out here."

Lincoln looked at her in annoyance as she sat down next to him. "How many times do I have to tell you, I don't want to be your boyfriend?"

"And how many times do I have to tell you, I don't care."

"You can't just force someone to…" she clamped his mouth shut, "Herhmm, hmmmmm!"

"Please, don't ruin the moment."

She let go of his lips and pulled out her cellphone, where she brought up a live video of some wrestling match before holding it up. "And it looks like the Red Tsunami has a strong hold on the Blue Inferno!" said the announcer.

"Man I love this match, my favorite is the Red Tsunami so I'm rooting for him."

"Er, good for you."

"Ooh, the Blue Inferno has turned the tables on the Red Tsunami!"

"Come on Red, beat him to a pulp!"

Lincoln meanwhile decided to sneak away while she was occupied with the video. "That was an awesome match, wasn't it Lincoln?" she asked, "Lincoln?"

She turned to see that her little boyfriend was nowhere in sight. "Hey!" she yelled before going off to search for him.

What she did not know however was that Lincoln had actually climbed up the tree they were next to and hid inside the foliage. He was planning on waiting until she was out of sight before changing into his real form and flying back home, but unfortunately the branch he was standing on gave way beneath him.

Lincoln groaned in pain as he tried to get back up after landing with a hard thud. "Aha, there you are!" Ronnie-Anne yelled from a distance.

"Crud."

Music: The Lorenzo Stomp

He quickly got up and bolted in the other direction. At one point during the chase sequence he ducked into a bush and remained quiet while Ronnie-Anne stood in front of the large plant, appearing to have no idea of where he was. In actuality however, she could already tell where he was hiding, but instead of showing it she decided to play ignorant and walk away.

Once she seemed to be out of sight he carefully emerged from the bush, only to get tackled by her after she snuck around him. He managed to break free though and continued to run from her. "He sure is slippery, I'll give him that."

At a later point Lincoln went and concealed himself inside an old shack, but the problem was that a family of raccoons had already made itself at home from within the structure. Luckily he got out with only a few scratch marks.

Eventually Ronnie-Anne stopped next to the park fountain after losing sight of him. "Dang it, where the heck is he?" she asked while scratching her head.

Unbeknownst to her however, Lincoln had submerged himself beneath the water in the fountain's base. He held his breath as long as he could while watching her turn her head from left to right, hoping that she wouldn't look through the water behind her. This seemed to work though as she ran off to another location, allowing him to resurface before climbing out of the fountain. "Now's my chance."

He then ran towards the front gate where he entered the nearest alley after passing through.

* * *

"Once I was in the alley I changed appearances and flew back here all soaking wet," he concluded, "Luckily my flight home helped dry me off some."

The sisters that were present had mixed reactions to this. Some of them thought it was sweet at first when Ronnie-Anne decided to make Lincoln her boyfriend, but then those thoughts turned into concern at the later parts. "So, you've been trying to avoid her because you're afraid of her?" Lynn asked.

"It's not so much as that, it's more like I'm afraid of what she'll do to me if I tick her off."

The girls remained silent at this point as they thought about the situation he was in. "I know how we can get rid of her," Lola said with a devious smile.

The others had a pretty good idea of what the pageant demon was thinking about. "Whatever it is you have planned, we're not doing it," Lori said firmly.

Lola gave an annoyed pout at this.

"Why don't you go ahead and get changed into some dry clothes awhile Linc, I'll see what I can do to help out?"

"Thanks Lori."

As their brother went up to his bedroom, the rest of them dispersed while Lori pulled out her cellphone before dialing a number. After ringing for several seconds a familiar voice answered. "Hey babe."

"Hi Bobby, we need to talk."

* * *

The next day…

Lincoln sat in the cafeteria along with the redhead trio to see if Ronnie-Anne would show up and bug him again. He was wondering exactly what it was that Lori would do to keep the queen of pain from bothering him, but whatever it was it seemed to work as he saw no signs of her.

He relaxed a little too early however as an all too familiar voice spoke up from behind him. "Hey Lincoln."

The young changeling mentally groaned before turning to face her.

"Is it cool if I sit with you, your friends can stay if they want?"

Lincoln was a little taken aback at this considering of how forceful she was yesterday. He turned towards his companion who each gave a shrug, implying that they were just as baffled as he was. "Uh, sure I guess," he replied.

Ronnie-Anne took her seat next to him and placed her lunch bag on the table. "Listen, your sister called Bobby and told him about what happened between us yesterday. They then talked to me about it with Lori being on speaker and made me realize how much stress I put you through."

"What does Bobby have to do with this?"

"Duh, he's my older brother," she responded with an eye roll.

"Oh," he said with realization.

"Anyways, I'm, sorry for being so pushy and all, I just really like hanging out with you."

"Actually, that's something I've been wondering about," he said, "Why did you take a liking to me anyways?"

"It's because you're the only one who doesn't act afraid of me," she answered, "Every other student I come across would quickly apologize and run away, usually for bumping into me.

You on the other hand didn't do any of those. You were actually brave enough to pay me back for the things that you ruined, and even though I almost got sick from that smoothie you gave me it was still very nice of you.

Not to mention the fact that you were able to beat my high score in Dance Battle, something that no one has been able to do for a long time."

While Lincoln did feel a little appreciated at what she said, he also couldn't help but feel bad about it. "Um, actually, the only reason why I did those things was because I didn't know who you were at the time."

"Oh," she said with a hint of disappointment, "Well if you give me a chance I'll prove to you that I'm not as bad as others say I am, and I'll try not to be so rough this time."

At first he wasn't sure if he should grant her request, but considering of how sincere her tone was he figured that he might as well go along with it. "Alright, I'll give you a chance."

Ronnie-Anne smiled with joy before hugging him tightly. "Thanks Lincoln."

She picked up her lunch bag and went over to another table, leaving Lincoln to rub his arms after having them nearly crushed. Meanwhile, his friends had been watching the whole scenario with some very dumbstruck expressions until Zach leaned towards the other two and asked, "What just happened?"

* * *

In the next few days that followed Ronnie-Anne remained true to her word and went a little easier on Lincoln. This led the two of them into getting to know each other and even though she still acted a bit pushy at times Lincoln eventually learned that she was actually pretty fun to hang out with. He almost felt guilty for falling for some of the accusations that were made about her.

We now find the two playing ski ball together at Gus' Games and grub, to which Ronnie-Anne got a higher score than Lincoln. "Wow, how did you manage to win that easily?"

"It's all in the wrist," she gave a smug grin.

"That's easier said than done."

"Eh, you'll get the hang of it."

The little couple decided to call it a day and head home, but just as they stepped out of the front entrance a thought suddenly came to the young changeling. "Hey Ronnie, before we head back to our houses there's something I should show you?"

"Sure, what is it?"

He gestured for her to follow him into the alley where he proceeded to take off his shirt. Before she could question him as to why he was doing that she instantly became speechless the very moment he changed his appearance.

Ronnie-Anne remained quiet for several minutes as she tried to comprehend on what she was seeing. Lincoln in the meantime felt a little nervous at her supposed reaction, wondering if maybe he showed her a bit too early. "You-you're The Royal Woods Devil?" she asked.

"Eeyep," he responded, "I know it seems very strange."

"You kidding me, this is awesome," she said excitingly, "It's not every day your boyfriend is a famous figure. Plus, I'm really digging those wings of yours."

"Heh, thanks," he said bashfully, "Can you keep this a secret from others though, I'd rather earn their trust before showing them?"

"Sure."

With that out of the way Lincoln reverted to his human form before he and Ronnie-Anne went their separate ways.

* * *

Lincoln was sitting on the edge of Lucy's bed with the latter holding a laptop in front of her. "This next one is about a knight who was almost lost to a powerful darkness."

"Go on," she encouraged.

* * *

Artorias of the Abyss

By Lucy Loud

_During the reign of Emperor Gwyn, there were four unique knights that stood out from the rest of his majesty's forces. They were known as The Four Elite Knights of Lordran, and among these elite knights was Artorias the Wolf. _

_Artorias possessed an unbreakable will and could perform various flips and spins in combat, making him one of the most agile warriors in the kingdom. Much like his companions Artorias fell many enemies in his way, and those who tried to flee in terror have also met their end. _

_One day however, Artorias got word that the leaders of his hometown of Oolacile had foolishly opened a portal to a place that one must never delve into, a place where Manus, the god of darkness was said to be imprisoned. They called it, the Abyss._

_No one is sure as to why they would do something so reckless, but whatever their reason was it led to the town being overrun by a horde of demonic entities, all of whom were creations of the dark god himself. _

_With his majesty's permission, Artorias went off to save the people along with his loyal companion, a great wolf named Sif. Upon their arrival Artorias could see all of the damage that the monstrosities had created, as well as the deaths of innocent people. To make matters even worse however, a black ooze like substance was slowly spreading throughout the township, indicating that his former home was about to be swallowed by the Abyss. _

_Artorias knew that he could not save the place he once grew up in, but he could save as many of the residents as possible. With his sword and shield in hand, the valiant knight disposed many of Manus' underlings while being aided by the unusually large canine. _

_It was thanks to these two that most of the town residents had managed to escape from their impending demise despite losing their homes and loved ones to the darkness. Unfortunately, victory did not come the way the duo hoped it would._

_Before finishing off the last of the horde, some of the monsters managed to get the drop on Sif and injured him. Not willing to let his friend be swallowed by the Abyss, Artorias crouched next to the wolf and used a healing spell to try and fix his wound. While the knight was an excellent swordsman, he was not as skilled in magic as others, so the process took a few minutes to complete, allowing the ooze to move closer and closer to them. _

_Once Sif was fully healed he took off towards the edge of town for safety. Artorias on the other hand wasn't so lucky. Due to the exhaustion he had against the demons as well as using a spell that he was not advanced in, Artorias was unable to outrun the darkness before being consumed by it along with Oolacile, never to be seen again, or so they thought. _

_A few days later Artorias had suddenly reappeared in Lordran, but the power of the Abyss had turned him into a hostile and seemingly emotionless killer who attacked anyone and anything in his field of vision. A few have managed to escape from their encounter with the mad swordsman while others have met their fate. _

_Just when it seemed like there was no way to free him from the darkness, two brave individuals named Benhein and Koris went to face off against him. Although they weren't a part of Gwyn's military force they were indeed very skilled fighters. As Benhein kept Artorias busy most of the time with a large sword he carried, Koris got to work on performing a ritual that would transfer the darkness into themselves, believing it to be the only way to save him. _

_Once the ritual was done with, Koris quickly performed a second ritual that sealed both him and Benhein within stone caskets before the Abyss' powers could fully overtake them. The now freed knight felt ever so grateful towards his saviors, and to ensure that their caskets would not be opened he hid them in a place that remains completely unknown to others, including Emperor Gwyn. _


	6. Episode 5

Episode 5

Lynn sweated as she stood in the line of scrimmage all while keeping herself steady and vigilant. The score was 36 to 40 with only 3 minutes remaining, which meant that they needed to score a touchdown in order to win.

Today was football season and the Royal Woods Roosters were competing against the Great Lakes Lapdogs in the semifinals with Lynn as their running back. If they won this game, (which Lynn believed they would) they would then move on to the championship, and just like every other sporting event their school held Lynn always looked forward to winning this one. "Hup one, hup two, hup three, hike!" yelled the quarterback.

Once she was handed the ball Lynn charged across the field while maneuvering around the other team, and despite their best efforts to stop her none of them were able to keep her from reaching the end zone. Lynn smiled as everyone within the stands, including her family cheered at her team's victory, prompting her to do a little dance. "And it looks like the Royal Wood Roosters will be heading off to the finals!" said the announcer.

* * *

Several days later, Lynn was out on the field again dressed in her football gear. She along with her teammates used all of the strength they could muster to push back the row of dummies that stood in their way. "Come on Loud, put some muscle into it!" yelled Coach Keck.

"You got it Coach!" she yelled back before pushing herself further.

As expected the Roosters had been training hard lately as they would soon be playing against the Hazeltucky Hockers in the championship. It was thanks to Lynn's skills and determination that they managed to make it this far, and it was also because of these abilities that the opposing team became weary for the upcoming match.

Meanwhile, two familiar antagonist were observing the Roosters from the far side of the field via binoculars while keeping themselves hidden behind a large bush. The duo almost growled at seeing Lynn through their lenses. "No way we're going to lose to her again," said Hawk.

"You got that right bro," replied Hank.

After an hour or two had passed, Coach Keck checked the time on her cellphone before blowing into her whistle, signaling her students to stop. "That's enough training for today everyone, time to hit the showers!"

Hank and Hawk smiled maliciously as they watched Lynn disappear through the back door of the school building. "Let's do this bro," said Hank before he and Hawk tiptoed away from their hiding spot.

* * *

A quick shower later and Lynn was just about ready to head home for the evening. Once she hoisted her duffle bag she made her way towards the school's front entrance with Margo by her side. "Quite the workout today, huh?" her friend asked.

"Oh yeah, but it'll all be worth it once we win the championship," she grinned with confidence.

"You got that right."

Just as she stepped out through the double doors however, Lynn foot landed on a skateboard that was sitting on top of the steps before she was sent flying several feet through the air. Margo watched in shock at what just transpired before wincing at seeing her friend and fellow teammate crash land onto the concrete pathway.

* * *

Lynn had a sour look on her face as she sat on the living room couch with a cast around her left leg. After examining her injury Lisa deduced that she would make a full recovery in about a month or two. "What, I can't wait that long, my team won't be able to win without me."

"I'm sorry sweetie, but I'm afraid you'll just have to wait until next season," Rita stated, causing Lynn to grumble and cross her arms in annoyance at this.

"I'm surprised that someone would go this far as to sabotage another team."

"Trust us Lincoln, it isn't the first time something like this has happened. They're usually done by fans who are literally desperate at seeing the team they're rooting for to win," Lori explained.

"You're team's been training just as hard as you have brah, I'm sure they'll do fine without you," Luna encouraged.

The father adjusted the pillow his daughter's leg rested on before turning towards her. "Is there anything we can get for you sport?"

"Maybe something that could heal me leg in an instant?" she asked in a non-caring manner.

The family couldn't help but feel sorry for her, because even though she had competed in this kind of event beforehand it was still important to her considering all of the hard work that she and her team went through. Lincoln meanwhile almost smiled as an idea popped into his head. 'I just hope this town has them,' he thought.

* * *

The next day, Lynn was watching the game on their television and just as she had feared her team was not doing well without her. While they did manage to score a touchdown as well as a couple of field goals they were still far behind the Hockers. At one point the Roosters' wide receiver attempted to make a run for it towards the end zone after successfully catching the ball, only to get shoved to the side by the enemy. Another part was where the quarterback was about to hand the ball to their substitute running back, only to get piled on by the Hockers. "Oh come on, that was a foul!" she yelled at the referee after he made a bad call.

While Lynn was busy with the boob tube, Lincoln went to grab his backpack from his bedroom before heading back downstairs and into the kitchen. Upon his entry he turned to see his mother sitting at the table whilst using her laptop. "I'm going out for a while Mom, there's something important that I need to take care of."

"Okay honey, just be sure to be back before it gets dark out," she said without taking her eyes off the screen.

"I will."

With that said he descended into the basement where he proceeded to remove his shirt before changing into his true form. He then pushed open the two cellar doors that led out into the backyard and poked his head out a little to see if there were any people close by. Once he saw that the coast was clear he spread his wings and took off into the sky. This was something that he used for whenever he went out flying somewhere.

Meanwhile, Lynn couldn't bear to see her team getting their butts whooped any further, so after checking that no one was around she grabbed her crutch and stood up from the couch, but just as she stepped out through the front door she was halted by the twins who were dressed up as hall monitors with sunglasses. "Lana, Lola, what are you guys doing?" she asked confusedly.

"Lori ordered us to stop you in case you tried to sneak off towards the game," Lana answered.

"I was just stepping outside for some fresh air."

"Pffft, nice try Lynn, now get back inside this instant," Lola commanded.

Usually in a situation such as this one Lynn could easily overpower these two, but since her leg was broken she wouldn't even be able to outrun them. "Ugh, fine," she said before reentering their home, all while silently cursing Lori for her meddling.

* * *

One of the unique traits that the changelings of his home world possessed other than shape shifting was their ability to spot a particular object from way up in the air, much like a hawk. Lincoln used this ability as he flew high above Royal Woods in search of whatever it was he was looking for, but was having no luck thus far.

His flight eventually led him to a parking lot where he hid between a couple of vehicles and changed his appearance again before entering Super Mart, a place where his folks would shop at for groceries. There he browsed through the aisles hoping that he would find any of the items on his mental list. "Let's see now, where would they keep them," he murmured while looking through a shelf lined with various spices.

He soon found himself at the floral section where he spotted a small bouquet of flower. "Found one," he smiled in satisfaction.

After grabbing the bouquet however, Lincoln was suddenly approached by the manager. "Oh, hello sir," he greeted nervously.

"Hello Mr. Loud, your sisters aren't here with you again are they?" he asked sternly.

"No sir, just me this time."

"Good, I'd hate to have to put up with those three troublemakers again."

Long story short, the last time Lincoln went shopping at Super Mart he brought a few of his sister along with him. This turned out to be a mistake though as one of them got into an argument with the other about what kind of snack they should get, which then escalated into a brawl that resulted in them knocking a bunch of condiments off a shelf and onto the floor, thus creating a big mess. Luckily after talking things out Lincoln and the rest of his family were permitted to continue shopping at the store while the so called troublemakers were forbidden to set foot inside of it, but even then the manager still felt a little weary at seeing them again. "I take it you're buying those flowers for someone special?" he asked.

"It's a secret."

The manager nodded in acknowledgement at this. A few of the store workers also assumed the same thing as Lincoln went to pay for the item, but just as he exited the establishment he pulled a tiger lily out of the bundle of flowers before tossing the rest of them into a nearby trashcan.

* * *

The score was now 10 to 30 with only five minutes till halftime. Margo attempted a field goal but got tackled before the tip of her shoe made contact with the ball, prompted Lynn to groan at seeing her team lose another chance at scoring.

She tried to take her mind off of it by grabbing a snack from the kitchen, but as she was chewing on one of her protein bars she noticed the back door. Seeing that she was alone, Lynn grinned as she planned on sneaking out through their backyard. She was determined to help her team win the championship one way or another, not caring if her leg got in the way.

Unfortunately for her this little escape attempt did not work in her favor, because once she reached the bottom step of the back porch her cast got caught on a piece of thread that was tied on either side of the railing and fell forward. Before she could pull herself back up the twins rushed over to her along with the family dog Charles. All three of them lifted Lynn over their heads and carried her back inside the house.

* * *

Lincoln held onto the wooden spike attached to the rooftop of a church like a chimpanzee while turning his head in various directions, hoping that he could spot the next item on his list. He then took notice of some people exiting the building below him while being given a farewell by a bishop. This little scenery reminded him of a time back in his home world.

* * *

The young changeling was relaxing on some giant size rafters in what appeared to be the auditorium of a cathedral, one with tall stain glass windows and a few giant chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

On the very end of the auditorium across from the giant wooden doors was a large statue of a woman with long beautiful hair. She was dressed in a robe with some armor on her chest, back and shoulders. The robe itself had large dangling sleeves and a skirt that covered her legs and feet while the chest plate had the image of a phoenix engraved on it. She also wore what seemed to be a long strand of fire that ran across her upper back and beneath her arms.

The statue was holding both of its arms out a little with an apple size flame resting on its palms, and built into the floor in front of the statue was a small pool of water.

Everything was quiet in the auditorium until the doors were slowly pushed open. Lincoln watched as a group of men in robes walked towards the statue in a double file line with an elderly person dressed as some kind of pope leading them. The men stopped in front of the pool of water and knelt before the statue while their leader held a staff in front of him, murmuring some words towards the inanimate figure.

As all of this was going on Lincoln was able to easily identify one of these robed men as his godfather Cornelius.

* * *

Lincoln quickly shook the memory out of his head the moment it appeared, because right now he had more important matters to attend to. "They said that they usually grow in this area but I don't see any," he said as he continued to survey his surroundings.

He was in luck however the very moment he spotted exactly what he was looking for. Sticking up out of the ground across the right side of the church's parking lot was a particular mushroom called the Death Cap. Lincoln smiled as he flew towards the poisonous fungus and plucked it out of the ground. "Just one more item to go," he said before taking off to another location.

* * *

Lynn was in Lori and Leni's room tying their bed sheets together into a makeshift rope. "No way I'm gonna let those Hockers beat us this year."

Once the rope was completed Lynn opened the window and tossed one end out. She looked out to see that the rope was just several feet above the ground. "Perfect," she grinned.

She then tossed her crutch out the window and let it fall to the ground below before climbing out the window herself. Keeping the weight off her cast, Lynn eased herself down the roof while keeping a good grip on her sisters' bed sheets. "No doubt Lori's going to be ticked off once she sees what I did, but I'll worry about that later."

By the time she was on the roof's edge she hopped off and let herself dangle on the rope while using a method where she would repeatedly release her grip on it for a second before grabbing hold again. She used this as a means to move herself closer to the ground so that she could land on her back more easily, believing it would prevent her from landing on her injured leg.

Once she was close enough she let go of the rope and allowed gravity to do the rest, only for her to land in a wheelchair before being pushed back inside by Lana.

* * *

Lincoln eventually arrived at the town junkyard where he landed discreetly on top of a stack of wrecked cars. If memory served him right there a stray dog that liked to hang around the area whilst chewing on a discarded bone, which happened to be the last item on his list. It's been some time since he last visited the junkyard though so he wasn't sure if the dog was even around still.

He made his way around the mounds of scrap while keeping himself undetected, although there didn't seem to be any signs of the canine. It didn't take long for him to find an old mattress with some tears and a few stains. Lincoln remembered this being the dog's bed, and lying on the ground just several feet away from the bed was an old bone, exactly what he was hoping to find.

After checking that there wasn't a soul in sight, Lincoln carefully made his way towards the bed and picked the bone up. Feeling slightly relieved that he managed to get it without any trouble, Lincoln turned his back towards the mattress and was about to take off when…

"Bowowowowowow!"

The aforementioned dog panted happily and picked up the bone into his mouth before walking back over to the mattress, where it made itself comfortable and fell asleep.

Meanwhile, Lincoln was shivering with fright as he held onto a large metal pipe that was sticking out of a mountain of junked cars. He quickly collected himself and looked to see that the bone was now back with its owner. "Dang it."

* * *

The two wooden doors to the cellar opened before Lynn stuck her head out. Seeing that neither the twins nor anyone else was in sight, Lynn climbed out of the basement and into the backyard. She then made her way around the house while staying full alert in case Lola or Lana tried to stop her.

After successfully making it to the front yard, the thirteen year old hurried to the bus stop which was about ten blocks away from her home. Once there she sat on the bench and tapped her good foot as she waited impatiently for the bus to arrive.

She didn't have to wait long though before boarding the vehicle. Lynn paid for the transport and sat in one of the available seats as the bus began to move. "Finally," she said under her breath.

The bus was just exiting the neighborhood and would soon be entering downtown, but much to Lynn's confusion the driver made a right turn and then another right into the neighborhood. Before Lynn could question him of what he was doing, the driver had already pulled up in front of the Loud residence where to familiar youngins stood on the sidewalk with their arms crossed.

Not willing to surrender, Lynn made her way to the back of the bus where she exited the rear door. Even though she couldn't run very fast due to her injury, she hoped that getting off the bus from there would give her a good head start, but not surprisingly it didn't work. The twins had quickly caught up to her and tied a rope around her before setting her down inside of a wagon. The athlete struggled to break free from her binds while the twins pulled the wagon towards their house, but then they stopped in front of the still opened door on the bus' front side and turned their heads towards the driver. "Thanks for your help Fred," said Lana.

"No problem," he replied while adjusting his cap.

Confused by this, Lynn took a closer look at the driver and recognized him as Lana's mud wrestling coach. "Dang it."

* * *

Since the junkyard mission didn't go so well, Lincoln decided to try and search for a bone in the forest that sat outside of Royal Woods, the same place where the gateway to his world was located.

It only took a few minutes for him to arrive since the junkyard was close to the town border, where he perched himself on a large branch near the top of one of the trees. "I never thought I'd be back here again."

Not wanting to waste any time, Lincoln scoured throughout the area in search of any bones that were left lying on the ground by wild animals.

Thirty minutes passed before Lincoln checked the time on his phone and saw that there was only 10 minutes left before the fourth quarter. By the time he found what he was looking for it would take a while for him to return home, and with the luck he was having it didn't seem like he would be able to make it in time.

Just as he was about to call it quits however he noticed a white object that was barely visible beneath a bunch of old leaves. At first he thought that it was just a woodland creature hiding in fear of his presence, but once he got a closer look at it he realized that it wasn't so.

Brushing the leafs to the side, Lincoln smiled with giddiness as he picked the bone up. It still had a few pieces of raw meat attached to it but he didn't really care, he got what he was looking for.

His moment of pride was replaced with fear though as a pack of snarling wolves surrounded him in a circle like formation. Lincoln gulped nervously as he held the bone close to his chest while the vicious canines inched closer to him. The alpha gave a short howl in which his subordinates took as a signal to pounce on their prey while he stood waiting, but before they could sink their claws into him Lincoln quickly spread his wings and shot straight upwards. The alpha quickly got over his shock and saw his followers laying in a heap with stars spinning around their heads. He face palmed in frustration as Lincoln flew back to Royal Woods with the bone in hand.

* * *

Lincoln eventually arrived home and went in through the cellar doors where he grabbed a hand saw and placed the bone on a work bench before cutting it in half.

He then took the severed bone and his backpack upstairs where he emptied the contents of his bag onto the kitchen table. "Let's hope I'm not too late."

Lincoln reached inside the sink cabinet for a small metal pot and filled it about three quarters of the way with water. He set the pot onto the stove and as the water slowly began to heat up from the burner he took the tiger lily and plucked each of its petals off before depositing them into the pot.

After that was done with he grabbed the Death Cap mushroom and shredded the stem up into pieces with his claws and dropped them into the mixture.

Next he took one half of the bone and used a teaspoon to scrape some of the marrow into the pot. With that done with he took what was left of the items and tossed them into the trashcan.

Lynn Sr. came walking into the kitchen shortly afterwards to see his son working at the stove. "Hey Kiddo, I thought I was supposed to make dinner today."

"It's not for dinner," he said while stirring the boiling concoction.

"What is it for then?" he asked with a hint of confusion.

"You'll see."

Though feeling slightly suspicious, the patriarch shrugged and walked away.

* * *

Lynn continued to watch the game while in a depressed slump. The score was now 13 to 46 with only 14 minutes remaining for the fourth quarter. At the rate they were going Lynn had pretty much lost all hope for them to win. "Well, there's always next year," she sighed, "Hopefully one that doesn't involve some jerks breaking my leg again."

Shortly after she said this, her brother came walking into the living room with a glass cup filled with some kind of liquid with a few ice cubes and a straw. "Here Lynn, I thought you could use something to drink," he held the glass cup to her.

"Thanks Linc, but I'm not thirsty right now," she responded nonchalantly.

"Just try it, okay?" he insisted, "It'll help, trust me."

Even though she didn't quite believed him Lynn took the cup and sipped some of its contents before her eyes widened a little. "Huh, never tasted something like this before, not bad though."

She shortly emptied the contents within and handed the cup back to Lincoln. "Thanks bro," she said before belching.

Lincoln went to set the glass into the sink and came back shortly afterwards with a football. "Hey Lynn, think fast!"

Her football instincts kicking in, Lynn leaped up from the couch and caught the ball as it flew towards her. "Whoa, didn't think you had it in you Linc," she complimented.

Her brother gave a "Ahem!" and pointed to the cast around her leg, causing her eyes to widen in shock at what she was seeing. "My-my leg, it doesn't hurt anymore."

She yelled for the others who came rushing into the living room. "Is something the matter sis?" Luna asked.

"My leg's healed!" she said in excitement.

"Wait, what?" Rita asked.

After a quick analysis Lisa confirmed that she spoke the truth, much to their bewilderment. "But, how is this even possible?" the four year old asked, "A recently fractured limb should not heal at this rate."

The rest of them except Lincoln questioned Lynn about how this even happened. "Honestly, I have no idea," she moved her healed limb around a little, "Unless…"

She turned her attention towards Lincoln as did the others. "Exactly what was in that drink you gave me?" she asked with a suspicious glare.

"I'll explain it to you later, right now you have a game to get to."

Lynn immediately realized that her brother was right, and so she pulled the cast off her leg and made a mad dash up to her bedroom. Before any of them could ask what she was doing the young sports fanatic zoomed out into the front yard dressed in her football gear. "Come on Dad, there's still enough time for me to help my team!"

"Oh uh, right away sport," he said before hurrying inside of Veronica along with his wife and kids.

* * *

Coach Keck chewed on her fingernails as she watched the Roosters getting their butts handed to them. Her nervousness was quickly replaced with surprise and confusion the moment she saw Lynn approaching her. "I'm here Coach."

"What, I thought…" she stopped herself, "You know what, never mind? Just get out there and help us win!"

"You got it Coach," she gave a thumbs up.

Music: Going The Distance by Bill Conti

Lynn strapped on her helmet and charged right onto the field. While some were very confused to see her back so early, especially the two brutes, the Roosters were mostly glad to have their star player back. "Hup one, hup two, hup three, HIKE!" yelled the Hockers' quarterback.

The rest of the game played out with the Roosters already catching up to the Hockers. The opposing team did everything they could to keep their enemy from scoring but none of their attempts have worked, either because Lynn kept outmaneuvering them or because they got a penalty for not keeping their cool.

With Lynn's quick reflexes the Roosters were now tied with the Hockers with only 3 minutes remaining. Once their quarterback gave the signal Lynn took the ball in hand and just like with the previous game she charged towards the end zone. Hank and Hawk grinned sinisterly at this and ordered their team to form a wall ahead of her.

Lynn gave a cocky grin however as she stopped in her tracks and yelled, "Go long Margo!" before tossing the ball to her companion who was standing on the other side of the wall.

Realizing that they've been duped, the Hockers broke away from each other and went straight after Margo as she ran the rest of the way towards the end zone.

They were unable to get to her in time before she reached her destination, resulting in loud cheers from the audience. "And the Roosters win the championship!" declared the announcer.

Everyone within the stands ran onto the field as did the Loud family, who immediately scooped Lynn up into the air along with the rest of her team while chanting the name Roosters.

Meanwhile, Hank and Hawk stood on the side slack jawed at what just transpired. Their shock slowly turned into anger though as they gritted their teeth and threw their helmets off. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" they both yelled in rage.

"I can't believe this, after all the trouble we went to break her leg she somehow manages to show up and beat us!" Hawk said.

"Tell me about it!" replied Hank.

Everything became silent all of a sudden as everyone on the field stared wide eyed at them, including the other members of their team. Hawk then noticed a microphone standing right next to him and Hank which was currently switched on. Everyone who heard them was quite horrified at what they had unintentionally confessed, including their own coach. "You did WHAT!?" he shouted in anger.

Hank and Hawk gulped nervously as everyone around them gave them death glares. "Run bro," Hank said in a hoarse tone.

The two of them made a beeline towards the nearest exit, not wanting to get sent to prison a second time. Lynn however was not willing to let the creeps get off that easily, so she quickly took a football into each hand and threw them straight at the fleeing culprits, who fell on their faces the moment they were struck on their heads.

Police moved in and handcuffed the two bruisers before dragging their unconscious forms off the field. "Good riddance to those two," said Lynn Sr.

"You can say that again," added Luna.

* * *

After stopping at Jean Juan's French Mex Buffet to celebrate Lynn and her teams' victory, the Loud family finally returned home feeling worn out from the celebration. "That was quite an eventful game wasn't it everyone?" their mother asked.

"It sure was," Lynn replied, "I should really thank Lincoln for it since he helped heal my leg and all."

"Speaking of which, what exactly was that stuff anyways?" Lori asked as she and the others turned towards Lincoln the second time that day.

Lincoln didn't seem deterred by this and answered their question. "It's called Estus, it's a healing potion that was used by doctors in my home world," he revealed, "Some of the ingredients were rather hard to come by so they tried to use them as sparingly as possible."

"So you went around town trying to find these ingredients?" Luan asked.

The boy nodded. "I knew how much the championship meant for Lynn and all, so I thought I could help her out by making the potion to heal her leg in an instant."

"Wow, that is so sweet of you Linky," Leni said.

"Yeah, I really owe you one bro," Lynn added.

"I'm also quite intrigued with this Estus you speak of. Perhaps we can discuss its properties and how it can be beneficial when he have the chance to," Lisa inquired.

With all that said and done the Loud siblings retired to their bedrooms for the rest of the evening, except for Lincoln who was asked by his sister Lucy if he was willing to share another short story with her, to which he said yes.

* * *

The Dismay of Sir Alonne

By Lucy Loud

_In the town of Carim, there lived a noble named Count Byron who had close connections to Emperor Gwyn and a strong influence over the kingdom of Lordran. Like other nobles Count Byron was targeted by criminals who either wanted to use him as ransom, or just wanted him dead. To avoid these mishaps Count Byron was protected by a highly skilled samurai who went by the name of Sir Alonne. _

_Ever since he was a child Sir Alonne was taught in the ways of swordsmanship, and although he wasn't a part of Gwyn's military unit he was still a force to be reckon with. People who had attempted to bring harm to Count Byron would often have their limbs severed by the samurai. _

_But one night, things took a turn for the worst. Someone had forced his way into the Count's mansion, slaying everyone in his way. This of course brought the attention of Sir Alonne, and when he went to confront the intruder in the mansion's foyer he immediately recognized him as Lautrec, one of the three most wanted criminals in Lordran. Many have tried to apprehend this murderous villain but none have succeeded. _

_He did not know why he was there or who hired him to kill Byron, but he did not care. Despite all of the stories he learned Sir Alonne would not allow his opponent to bring harm to his master._

_The two warriors clashed with one another with Lautrec proving to be a formidable adversary, almost as if he wasn't actually human. The samurai however stood his ground as he used every bit of his training to help him defeat his foe. _

_But at the end Lautrec had somehow gotten the better of him and badly wounded the samurai before running to the Count's bedchamber. Despite all of his swordsmanship Sir Alonne had failed to protect the Count as the brass armored criminal held the man's severed head before fleeing the mansion. _

_The samurai attempted to perform a sepeku but was unable to do so as an invisible force suddenly took control over his body. Before he had his head lopped off by Lautrec the Count had placed a curse on Sir Alonne as punishment for failing to protect him. This curse was so that he would forever guard his master's tomb within the catacombs beneath the city until the end of time. _


	7. Episode 6

Episode 6

Lincoln sat in his homeroom class with a hand on his right cheek and a look of boredom on his face while Mrs. Johnson described to her students about some events that had taken place during the 19th century. "And so they sailed across the…" she went on.

It had been a rather slow week at Royal Woods Elementary School with nothing of real interest occurring. Lincoln and his group of friends attended their classes as usual and managed to receive some good grades for their homework, except Rusty who got an F for goofing off. So now Lincoln was waiting for the clock to run out so that he could head home and enjoy the weekend.

If one were to look around they could see that the walls of the classroom were aligned with decorations for Saint Patrick's Day as was the rest of the school. There was also news about an upcoming contest where participants had to search around the school campus for these paper mache four leaf clovers, and whoever collected the most of them at the end of the hour would win. This was an annual event that they used to partake in the holiday season.

Unfortunately it didn't get that many contestants since the prizes they used each year weren't really all that impressive, like a t-shirt representing the holiday for example. Lincoln thought about entering the contest at first just to know what it was like, but after hearing about its reputation he wasn't sure if he should bother. "And that class is how Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th president," Mrs. Johnson finished.

Lincoln was snapped out of whatever daydream he was in by the sound of the final bell, but before he and his fellow students could get up from their desk Mrs. Johnson said, "Now before you all head home for the weekend, there's something that I would like to share with you."

They ceased what they were doing and gave her their full attention.

"I'm sure a lot of you are already aware about the four leaf clover hunt taking place next Saturday, and that many of you don't really care all that much about it."

Some of them murmured in agreement while others nodded.

"Well this year will be a little different because the prize we'll be using is something that a lot of you would enjoy."

"Really, what is it?" Zach inquired.

"A one day pass for three people to Dairyland."

All of their eyes widened in awe at the mention of the prize, especially Lincoln's. Ever since he learned about the famous amusement park Lincoln had been dying to visit the place and try out some of its rides, including its newest one called, Fly me to the Moo.

Mrs. Johnson couldn't help but chuckle at their expressions. "If any of you wish to sign up now, you may do it in front of the main office."

Before she knew it everyone in front of her had suddenly vanished, leaving a few sheets of paper to hover in the air for a bit before falling back to the floor.

* * *

Norm was busy mopping the floor in one of the hallways while listening to some music on a pair of old fashion headphones, but stopped when he felt the floor begin to vibrate. Feeling curious, he looked up to see a _huge_ number of students appearing at the end of the hallway.

It turned out that several other classes were also given the same piece of information from their teachers and were now eager to take part in the contest. Norm's eyes widened in fear of being trampled but managed to save himself by quickly moving to a space between some lockers and pressing his back against the wall.

Unfortunately he didn't think to take his bucket with him as it got knocked over by the stampede of students, its spilt water causing them to slip and crash into each other.

Lincoln came walking into the area shortly afterwards along with his best friend and girlfriend. Earlier he was feeling just as eager as the others were, but once he got several feet from his homeroom class he immediately realized what could happen if he took part in the stampede. He was able to stop his friends just as they were passing by him, although he did feel himself being yanked by Ronnie-Anne when he grabbed her.

Apparently his hunch was correct as a bunch of students littered the floor in front of them. Norm grimaced at seeing several students moaning in pain while others tried to get back up but failed to do so.

Seeing that their path was being blocked, the three of them decided to take a different route. "Attention, could every teacher and Norm please report to my office?" Principal Huggins requested on the intercom.

The janitor gulped nervously at what he just heard.

* * *

It didn't take long for them to reach the entrance hall where a small fold up table stood in front of the main office with a clipboard holding a sign up sheet resting on top. Even though several other students had already wrote in their names there was just enough space for them to do the same.

After that they then went to grab their things from their lockers before meeting back up in the entrance hall. As they made their way towards the exit Lincoln stopped when he noticed a drawing of a dancing leprechaun hanging up on the wall above the doorway, the color of its beard reminding him of the Gyrm race from his home world. 'It's a shame I'll never get to meet the ones who made some of my Mom's things.'

He quickly forced those thoughts out of his head and exited the building, not wanting to dwell on the past.

* * *

A couple of days passed by after that, and now we find the trio at Burpin Burger, a popular fast food joint that the characters love to visit. Lincoln and Clyde were chowing down on some burgers and fries while the female member of their group was busy using the restroom. Clyde reached over to take another French fry but due to his mind wandering at that point he was actually about to grab one of Ronnie-Anne's chicken fingers.

Luckily for him Lincoln saw what he was doing and stopped him by saying, "Clyde, I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The glasses wearing preteen immediately realized the mistake he was about to commit and pulled his hand away. The two of them continued their meal but were shortly interrupted by some uninvited guests. "Well well, if it isn't the two dipsticks Larry McClaude."

Both boys were not pleased at seeing their arch nemesis or his friends/lackeys, nor were they pleased at being called the wrong names. "It's Clincoln McCloud, and what do you want Chandler?" Lincoln asked with a hint of annoyance.

"I heard you two decided to enter the contest this year."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well in case you don't already know, my friends and I have also decided to enter," he revealed, "In fact, the three of us happen to be experts at finding things, so you might as well kiss that Dairyland pass goodbye."

"Wait, why would you even want to enter the contest, isn't your dad loaded?" Clyde asked.

"Yeah, you can probably just buy your own pass," Lincoln stated.

"True, but since a lot of the guys at our school signed up for it we thought we might as well just for the heck of it," Chandler explained, "That, and the idea of beating losers like you is just oh so satisfying."

Lincoln rolled his eyes at his enemy's arrogance. "Yeah well, don't get too cocky Chandler. Even if you _are_ experts, that doesn't mean that you'll win it that easily."

"Yeah, Lincoln, Ronnie-Anne and I are going to give this contest our all," Clyde added with confidence.

"Oh please, like I'm going to be intimidated by a couple of nerds like you."

"Ahem."

Chandler turned and felt a chill run down his spine the moment he saw who was standing in front of him. "Y-you on the other hand though, I'm scared of."

"You should be, and unless you and your friends want to end up with a serious beating, I suggest you take a hike."

Lincoln smiled satisfyingly as he watched the three bullies hurry away from their table. 'They don't call her the toughest girl in school for nothing,' he thought while his girlfriend took a seat next to him.

"So, you guys got any ideas on how to win this thing?" she asked while munching on a chicken finger.

"Well, we thought that each of us could try and search certain areas in the school in order to cover more ground," explained Clyde.

"Right, Clyde could look around the classrooms and offices while I investigate some of the other rooms, like the cafeteria and gymnasium," Lincoln explained further, "We also thought that maybe you could look around the areas outside the school, such as the playground and baseball field."

"And since Lincoln has the ability to crawl on walls and ceilings, then we're sure to win this contest."

"Actually Clyde, I won't be doing any of that. It'll be too risky to change into my true form with the school's surveillance system as well as a bunch of other students running around the place searching for clovers," he said, "Plus, it wouldn't it be fair for some of the other competitors."

"Oh, right, good point."

"I think the rest of this idea sounds good," Ronnie-Anne commented.

"Great, bring it in everyone," Lincoln ordered while holding his fist out in front of himself.

The others did as they were told and touched their fists against his.

"Now blow it up."

They then threw their hands up into the air while making exploding sounds despite how unrealistic it was. Meanwhile, Chandler was eyeing them from another table with an angry glare.

* * *

Three days earlier…

Chandler walked down a hallway in his family's manor before arriving at the entrance to his father's study. After knocking a few times a masculine voice on the other side said, "Come in."

The dark red hair boy stepped inside to see a man in his 40s dressed in a suit and sitting at a desk while looking over some paperwork. "Hey Dad?" he asked.

"Yes son?" he replied without taking his eyes off his work.

"You know about the four leaf clover hunt taking place next Saturday?"

"Of course, it's something that the school board and I came up with several years ago, although we're thinking about getting rid of it since it usually doesn't get that many contestants."

Chandler developed a clever look on his face. "Well, I think I have an idea on how we can get more people involved."

"Really, what would that be?" he turned his gaze to his son.

Chandler reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked to be a Dairyland pass before holding it out for his father to see. "We could use this as the prize for the contest this year. I bought it earlier today thinking that it could be useful for something like this."

He then handed it to his father who looked over it before grinning. "This might actually work," he said, "Thank you son, I'll contact the school board as soon as I can to make the arrangement."

With that said and done Chandler turned to exit his father's office while sporting a kind and innocent smile on his face, but then it turned into an evil grin once he shut the door behind him. 'Just you wait Loud, I'm gonna make you pay.'

* * *

After waiting patiently as well as impatiently for several more days, it was now almost time for the contest to begin. Lynn Sr. pulled Veronica up into the school's parking lot where he, his wife and two of their kids Lincoln and Lana stepped out and made their way through the double doors of the building. Lisa would've also taken part in the contest considering that she enjoyed Dairyland as much as some of her siblings did, but sadly only elementary school students were permitted to participate. Lana promised to share the pass with her though if she managed to win the contest.

Upon entry they saw that many other contestants had already arrived with their families, all of who were instructed by Cheryl to wait in the entrance hall. While they waited Lincoln looked to his left to see Clyde sitting on a bench with his father Harold, the former giving him a friendly wave. Lincoln returned the gesture before turning his head in the other direction, where he saw Ronnie-Anne standing along with her mother Maria.

He then looked behind him and managed to locate some of his classmates within the small crowd, such as the redhead trio as well as Girl Jordan. He also spotted Chandler standing in a corner by the entrance with his parents beside him, but there didn't seem to be any signs of his two flunkies. 'Huh, I guess they couldn't make it for some reason.'

After waiting for a few more minutes Principal Huggins finally came onto the scene. "Good afternoon everyone, and that you all for partaking in this year's four leaf clover hunt," he announced, "Now before we begin the event there are a few rules that I would like to lay out to those who haven't competed before."

Chandler rolled his eyes in annoyance while the principal cleared his throat.

"Rule #1, you are to not break anything or create a mess while searching for the clovers. Rule #2, you are not allowed to have any assistance nor are you to give any during the contest. Rule #3, interfering with another participant as well as taking his or her clover is strictly prohibited. And finally, rule #4, you are forbidden from eating any of the food in the school kitchen."

"That goes double for you little miss," Cheryl said with a slight stern in her tone.

"Meh," Lana shrugged.

"Does everyone follow?" Huggins asked before receiving nods from the competitors, "Good, then let the contest begin."

"Good luck guys."

"Same to you Linc," Ronnie-Anne responded.

The adults cheered as they watched their children run off into the halls.

* * *

3:05 p.m., 55 minutes before the contest ends…

Noah and Mike stood on the side of the building with the latter wearing an orange shirt and holding a white wig in his hand. Noah reached into his pocket after hearing a beeping sound go off before pulling out a portable communicator and holding it up to his ear. "Yeah?" he asked.

"It's time," Chandler's voice said on the device.

He then gave a nod to his compatriot who placed the wig onto his head before climbing in through a window above them. Noah had to give him a little boost though in order for him to get inside. Once that was done with Noah went behind a dumpster and took a laptop out of his backpack, which he used to hack into the school's surveillance system so that he could look up some recorded video footages of teachers placing the clovers in various hiding spots.

He also held a small tablet in his left hand that was connected to a hidden camera on Chandler's person. "I'm in," he said on the communicator.

"Good, now where's the nearest clover?"

"It's located right beneath Principal Huggins desk."

* * *

3:10 p.m., 50 minutes before the contest ends…

As they had agreed upon Clyde went to search each of the classrooms and offices throughout the building, the first one happening to be their homeroom class. There he went through each desk including Mrs. Johnson but couldn't seem to find a clover in any of them. "There's got to be one in here."

Luckily for him he found one taped to the other side of the door he came in through. This seemed rather clever of their teacher as most of the participants wouldn't think to close the door behind them when they entered. 'Gotta give Mrs. Johnson credit for thinking of an elusive hiding spot,' he mentally commented.

Seeing that there were no other clovers in the room, Clyde took what he found and left.

* * *

3:15 p.m., 45 minutes before the contest ends…

Lincoln crawled through the air ducts as he found it more efficient to get around the school for these kind of events. Sometimes when people came into his godfather's old home he would make his way through the vents in order to observe them just for curiosity's sake, so he was used to doing something like this.

Some would think that he could get lost in these though since their more expansive than the one's in Cornelius's house as well as the Loud residence, but truth be told he has actually been through these a couple of times before. The first time was when he was sealed in the janitor's closet by Chandler's goons so that he would miss out on all of his classes, but unfortunately for them Lincoln was able to enter the vent above him and while trying to picture the layout of the building he managed to make his way to his first period class.

The second time was when Chandler had set up a bunch of traps in front of each entrance for him to walk into at the end of the school day, but thanks to his sisters informing him Lincoln made his way towards a vent that led to the outside, allowing him to avoid the traps. The ones who walked into them though were several teachers as well as the school principal. "McCAAANNN!" he yelled while being suspended upside down by a rope with some paint splattered on his face and clothing.

And there you have it. Eventually Lincoln reached a vent that led into the janitor's closet where, after carefully removing the grill, he dropped down inside and began to look through some of the items within. It only took a minute for him to find a clover on the side of a bucket before climbing back up into the vent.

* * *

3:25 p.m., 35 minutes before the contest ends…

Ronalda…

"That's Ronnie-Anne pal," she stated.

Oh, sorry, Ronnie-Anne searched around the school playground for a clover but didn't seem to be having much luck. She was however carrying what appeared to be five four leaf clovers in her possession, which meant that she was actually having better luck than the others. At least until now that is.

Meanwhile, Chandler was walking alongside the building not too far from her location. He stopped beside some trashcans where he found a clover attached to the one in the middle. "This is all too easy," he said with a smug.

"To be honest I don't know what the point of this is," Noah said on the earpiece, "I mean, why would you want to win something that you're giving away?"

"Because one, I want to see the look on Larry's face when he gets in trouble, and two, I did not spend 30 bucks on a Dairyland pass just to give it up so easily. The only reason why I let my Dad and the school board use it is so that I can get Loud to participate, otherwise we won't be able to carry out my latest plan to get back at him," he explained, "Now tell me where the next clover is."

"Right, it's attached to a tree just around the corner on the left side from your position."

Before Chandler made his way to where Noah directed him however, he turned his head to see Ronnie-Anne after noticing her from the corner of his eyes. When he looked in her direction he frowned at seeing the number of clovers in her possession, but then his frown turned into a malicious grin when he noticed a yellow jacket's nest hanging from a tree that was close to her position.

With an idea forming into his head, Chandler picked up a small rock and threw it straight at the nest before ducking behind the trashcans. The nest swung back and forth a little from the impact before breaking off the branch he hung from.

Ronnie-Anne turned after hearing something land on the ground behind her, but then she became fearful at seeing a huge swarm of angry yellow jackets looming over her. Chandler in the meantime kept himself hidden from view while snickering at this dirty little trick of his, not caring about how much pain she would be in.

To the Hispanic girls surprise and confusion however, the cloud of insects suddenly flew over to where Chandler was hiding at, forcing him to run away in both pain and terror. "Ah, get em' off, get em' off, get em' off, get em' off!"

Ronnie-Anne scratched her head in confusion at what she saw before shrugging it off. After that little ordeal she then found a clover on the underside of a slide.

* * *

3:30 p.m., 30 minutes before the contest ends…

Clyde stepped into Coach Pacowski's office where he began to search through the gym teacher's desk. "There doesn't seem to be any in here."

He then looked through some of the other things in the room before eventually finding two clovers in separate hiding spots. "Aha!"

Just as he turned towards the doorway to leave however, he saw what looked like his best friend pushing a cart full of dodge balls onto its side, spilling the red colored orbs all over the gym floor. "Lincoln, what are you doing?" he called to him.

Lincoln didn't seem to listen though as he ran out of the gymnasium. This confused Clyde greatly as he never once thought of his friend as a vandal. 'I wonder what's gotten into him.'

* * *

3:45 p.m., 15 minutes before the contest ends…

Lincoln investigated each table in the school cafeteria until he came to one in the far corner from the entrance, where a single clover was taped to the underside.

When he attempted to grab it though, he noticed another hand reaching for it as well. He looked to his right to see Girl Jordan standing next to him with neither of them realizing each other's presence until now.

Music: Title Song by The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Time seemed to slow down around them as their expressions grew serious, wondering who would make the first move. After what felt like almost an hour Lincoln was the one to make this move, but sadly he wasn't quick enough. "Better luck next time," she teased before running out of the cafeteria with her claim.

Lincoln felt a little down as he made his way towards the exit as well, but then he brightened up at seeing a clover attached to the side of a snack vending machine. The best part to this was that there was no one around to snatch it before him.

* * *

3:50 p.m., 10 minutes before the contest ends…

Ronnie-Anne was having less luck now as she looked around the basketball court. A few competitors had already nabbed all of the clovers in the baseball field before she arrived, so she had hoped that they didn't do the same with this area.

Just as she was about to give up and leave, she spotted a clover on the front side of a basketball hoop. She didn't know what genius thought it would be a good idea to put one all the way up there, but that wasn't important right now.

After spitting on each of her hands before rubbing them together, Ronnie-Anne grabbed onto the metal pole and started to climb up. Once she was at the top she removed the clover and slid back down.

* * *

Lincoln ran down a hallway and passed some students that were running all over the place looking for clovers to collect. He and his two companions knew that things would get a little wild since there were many contestants involved, and Lincoln had to admit that he was having a pretty fun time. 'Maybe next year, they could have a prize that would get just as many contestants as this one.'

His train of thought was interrupted by Cheryl on the intercom. "Times up everyone, please return to the entrance hall so that we can count up the number of clovers each of you have in your possession."

Doing as they were told, each participant made his or her way to their designated location, but when Lincoln arrived he saw every adult looking at him with angry glares, which made him feel quite uncomfortable. "Um, why is everyone looking at me like this?" he asked.

Instead of just telling him, Principal Huggins pointed a remote to a television screen that sat on top of a cart before them. This was something that they used to see how the participants were doing as the T.V. was connected to the school's surveillance system, and when Huggins pressed the play button the screen showed some recorded video footages of Lincoln creating several messes throughout the school building, such as pulling drawers out and dumping their contents onto the floor as well as throwing a trophy cup to the side after looking inside of it. "Gee son, I know you've been wanting to go to Dairyland and all but I didn't think you would so far as to vandalize school property in order to win," Lynn Sr. said.

Once the video footages came to an end Principal Huggins returned his gaze towards Lincoln who had a look of shock on his face. "So, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Lincoln quickly snapped himself out of the state he was in and said, "W-wait, this can't be right, there's no way that person on the screen is me, I never did any of those things," he turned towards his friend, "Help me out here Clyde."

"Erm, actually Lincoln, I saw you pushing a cart over in the gymnasium on purpose, so I don't know what to say in your defense," he responded while scratching the back of his head.

Lincoln looked at his friend in shock at what he just heard, and while Ronnie-Anne did feel angry at Clyde for what he said even she did not know what to say in this situation as she was outside most of the time. Chandler on the other hand simply grinned as he watched his plan unfold.

Seeing that no one would come to his defense, Lincoln nervously looked up at Principal Huggins who still possessed the same stern expression. "Principal Huggins, I never did any of those things, I swear," he said a little more firm this time.

The principal sighed at this. "I do want to believe you Mr. Loud, but I'm afraid we can't ignore the evidence that has been presented to us."

"Not so fast Principal Huggins, there's more to this scenario than you might think."

Everyone turned to see Mrs. Johnson standing before them with one hand holding Noah's ear and the other one holding Mike's. The crowd was pretty surprised at the outfit that the latter was wearing as well as the wig that sat on his head. "I found this one sitting behind a dumpster and using his laptop to hack into our surveillance system while giving direction to someone on a communicator," she said while tugging on Noah's ear a little, "And I found this one smashing a vase in the teacher's lounge. I believe he may be trying to frame Lincoln."

While some were very shocked at hearing this, others such as Lincoln's family and friends were miffed. "I see, thank you for clearing up this whole misunderstanding Agnes," the principal said before looking at the two culprits, "Now as for you two."

The two of them gulped nervously.

"Mrs. Johnson said that one of you was giving directions to someone. If you tell us who it is right now then I _might _shorten your punishment."

Mike and Noah looked at each other real quick then towards Chandler who gave them a look that said, 'Don't rat me out.' "It was me, I was the one Noah was giving directions to," Mike lied, "We wanted to win the contest badly so that we could go to Dairyland with our friend Chandler."

"Framing Lincoln was really just a bonus after he got our friend in trouble after they first met," Noah added.

Several of Lincoln's classmates looked at him with dumbstruck expressions. "You got Chandler in trouble?" Rusty asked.

"It's a long story," he replied.

"Guys, I appreciate you trying to look out for me, but you didn't have to go this far just to make me happy," Chandler went along with their ploy.

"Yeah, sorry man," Mike apologized.

And so after receiving a month's worth of detention, the two boys were taken away by their mothers who dragged them out through the double doors by the ears. Lincoln and a few others suspected that Chandler _was _a part of it but decided to let it go since there didn't seem to be any way to prove it. "Hey Lincoln, sorry about what I said earlier, I just didn't realize that it was actually Mike that I saw," Clyde said after walking up to his friend.

"That's alright, they did manage to fool everyone at first after all."

"Well, now that that's out of the way, it's time to count up the clovers," said Huggins.

Each contestant lined up in front of a small table that stood against a wall in the entrance hall, where they would place the clovers they had collected for Cheryl to count. Once the last student had her clovers counted Cheryl looked over some things she wrote down on her notepad while the participants waited eagerly to see who had won. "Well it seems that Miss Lana Loud has collected the most clovers so that means she wins."

"YES!" she threw her arms up in victory.

The moment she did however, several bags of chips and other snacks spilled out of her overalls and onto the floor. Seeing this caused everyone to gasp. "Lana!?" said Lincoln.

"What, they said I couldn't eat any of the food in the school kitchen," she stated, "They didn't say that I couldn't take some home with me."

Rita face palmed at this while her husband shook his head. "Well I'm afraid that disqualifies you from the contest Ms. Loud," Huggins said.

"Awwww," she whined.

"Well then, I guess this means that the ones who collected the most clovers are Mr. Loud, Mr. McBride and Miss Santiago, so it's a three way tie," Cheryl announced.

Several of their friends and families cheered for them while the trio themselves high fived one another. Chandler however had his mouth agape before gritting his teeth and twitching his eye in anger. "How could _they_ have won, I'm the one who collected the most clovers, I'm sure of it?"

Unbeknownst to him however, Chandler had actually dropped several clovers while being chased by the yellow jackets.

* * *

It was late in the afternoon as Lincoln entered through the front door of the Loud residence. He was wearing a t-shirt that bore the Dairyland logo as well as a hat that resembled a cow's face. In his right hand was a stick of cotton candy that was already partly eaten, and tucked beneath his left shoulder was a cute little teddy bear.

Lily appeared to be happy to see her brother home again as she walked up to him while babbling excitedly. When she got close to him Lincoln smiled kindly and held the teddy bear towards her. "This is for you lily."

The toddler took the bear and squeezed it for a few seconds before carrying it somewhere off screen. After she left, Lucy then came walking into the scene. "Hey Lincoln, how was your day at Dairyland?"

"It was great, we got on so many rides and managed to win a few carnival games," Lincoln said with joy, "We even got to ride Fly me to the Moo."

"That's awesome," she smiled.

"So how were things here?"

"The same as usual, Lana finished all of her chores an hour ago so she's finally off the hook."

"That's good, so is there anything I can help you with?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you would be willing to share another short story with me?"

"Sure, I can do that."

* * *

The Sunken City

By Lucy Loud

_In the far south east corner of Lordran lies a vast lake, and at the very bottom of this lake rests the ruins of an aquamarine city that went by the name of Shulva._

_Shulva was once a famous civilization that drew water from an underground reservoir which was then channeled through the city's waterways as well as a cistern that sat beneath the streets. _

_It was founded by a former noble of the same name who was exiled from the capital for having disagreements against some of Emperor Gwyn's ideals, and although he was reduced to a commoner with seemingly no future career he somehow managed to obtain many followers due to unexpected circumstances, like aiding a village against an invasion of marauders for example. _

_Elana, the daughter of Shulva's last ruler Vendrick, was set to be married to Duke Seath as he found her to be quite alluring, but she despised him. In fact, her heart belonged to a man named Sinh, a warrior who served as her father's right hand man for several years. _

_Sinh also possessed the same feelings for her, and did not wish for her to be married towards someone who only liked her for her looks. Surprisingly Vendrick felt the same way on the second part. Despite the agreement he made with the Duke he learned that his daughter was much happier when she was with Sinh, and so at his suggestion the two of them decided to elope, leaving their former home and starting a new life of their own. _

_When Seath learned that his future wife had run off with another person he was infuriated at Vendrick for allowing such a thing to happen under his nose, although he didn't seem to realize that it was his idea that they fled. _

_Seath demanded compensation from him but the ruler refused to comply, saying that he had nothing else to give him. This made Seath even angrier but Vendrick was undeterred by this, believing that the Duke would simply cut whatever ties he had with them. Oh how wrong he was. _

_After gaining permission from his majesty, Seath used the power of the Flame to greatly enhance a type of earth spell that allowed the user to turn the ground in front of them into clay and bend it to their will. _

_With this powerful combination Seath returned to Shulva but stood a great distance away from it. Normally it would take several days for someone to reach the city but for a highly skilled sorcerer like Seath the trip was a lot shorter. _

_At that point he used the spell to will the ground around Shulva's perimeter to expand while at the same time causing the soil beneath it to lower, thus creating a gigantic crater with the city resting at the bottom. After that he then used the spell to expand the opening into the underground reservoir, resulting in massive amounts of water to pour into the crater and drowning all of the residents before completely submerging the city. _

_Seath was usually the kind of mage who specialized in crystal magic, but for situations like this one he was willing to make an exception. As for what became of the couple after they had left, no one knew. What they did know however was that they could never return to their former home again. _


End file.
